In September 1977 Mercedes-Benz introduced their first factory-built wagon model as part of the W123 range.

 

The T-Series was available with the same engine range as the saloon, but featured the extra practicality of the wagon body form, frequently supplemented by the fitment of a 3rd row of rearward facing seats.

 

The model shown here the 300 TD Wagon, was fitted with a 3.0 L 5-cylinder Diesel engine, and is based on the car owned by the parent of one of my friends in the 1980s. They had a large family, and the 7-seat wagon was a very sensible proposition for carrying some of the family in one go (eight kids, so there was a second car as well).

 

Power output of the diesel engine was limited, based on numbers alone the car seems woefully under-powered by today's standards. But having driven a similar W123 sedan 300 D, the car moved along well enough.

 

The W123 reange was replaced by the W124 in 1985, and the new model range also included a high-capable wagon model.

I believe this is the Mission Chapel of San Juan Bautista.( I may be wrong. Please correct me if I am.)

 

Two years ago, we visited 3 of the 21 Spanish Missions that were established in Alta California during the expansion and colonization of California back in 1700s... for my daughter's school project.

 

A vast majority of these chapels have seen too many earthquakes, fires, floods and have been restored at least 3 times. Some were relocated while others were rebuilt. In fact, the better the condition of the structure, the more likely the chances are that the original structure has not survived the earthquake or the fire that hit it. The missions( most of them) although do not hold regular services, allow visitors and some are also available for hire for weddings and other occasions. Some are privately run and so are off limit to the general public.

 

While most of religious places are built for opulence and grandeur, these Mission chapels stood out to me for their simplicity and practicality. I suppose the they did not have much choice. Most of these were built with stone and wood and still have that 18th century charm. In almost all of them, even the ones with structure barely holding up, I found the main chapel warm and welcoming.

 

I for one would love to visit the other 18 of the Mission Chapels if possible. :)

Behold, with the solemnity this moment deserves, my latest masterpiece of modern engineering and artistic excess: the legendary Mitsuoka Le Seyed, recreated with the precision and audacity that only LEGO bricks can provide

 

This is not merely a car — it is a manifesto of style, an ode to unrestrained opulence, a heartfelt tribute to the unforgettable Grand Tour EuroCrash.

 

Observe the majestic chandeliers, symbols of refined taste and questionable practicality, and the vibrant green rims, capturing the fearless spirit of a man who refuses to acknowledge the meaning of “subtle.”

 

A creation that boldly defies not only the laws of aerodynamics… but also those of aesthetics — and, quite possibly, good judgment itself.

 

💚✨ Le Seyed would, without a doubt, approve.

Chassis n° LP400 112 0016

 

Les Grandes Marques du Monde au Grand Palais

Bonhams

Estimated : € 600.000 - 800.000

Sold for € 638.250

 

Parijs - Paris

Frankrijk - France

February 2018

 

'But for sheer outlandish eye appeal, and track-car capability that's translatable for the road, there is simply no better car. It's hard, also, to imagine a better one coming along.' – Car magazine on the Lamborghini Countach.

The legendary Miura was always going to be a hard act to follow, so the extent to which its successor eclipsed the greatest of 1960s supercars came as something of a shock to all. The sensation of the 1971 Geneva Salon, the Countach was styled, like its predecessor, by Carrozzeria Bertone's Marcello Gandini. Looking aggressive from every angle, the Countach was nothing less than spectacular, suggesting it had been conceived on another planet. As Motor magazine observed: 'few people gazing at the original Bertone Countach at Geneva in 1971 could have regarded it as anything but a "show" car. There were those fold-up doors for a start and the space-age cockpit with its abysmal rear visibility not to mention the strange engine/transmission configuration.' Happily, Lamborghini disregarded criticism of the car's supposed lack of practicality, and the Countach entered production changed in detail only. As it happened, the production version would not be seen for another two years, with deliveries commencing in 1974.

 

The running gear was largely carried over from the Miura, although it had been recognised that the latter's shortcomings in terms of handling and stability would not be tolerable in the Countach. At the same time, cabin heat and noise had to be reduced, and a more user-friendly gear change devised. The Miura's four-cam V12 was retained for the Countach, though this time installed longitudinally and equipped with side-draught Weber carburettors. To achieve optimum weight distribution, designer Paolo Stanzani placed the five-speed gearbox ahead of the engine between the seats, and the differential - driven by a shaft passing through the sump - at the rear. The result was a delightful gearchange and a better-balanced car than the Miura.

 

When production began in 1974, the Countach sported an improved spaceframe chassis, replacing the prototype's rather untidy semi-monocoque, while the bodywork was made of aluminium. One of the Countach's most striking features was the doors, which opened vertically and were supported by hydraulic struts, pivoting at their most forward point.

 

The production Countach came with the standard 4.0-litre - instead of the prototype's 5.0-litre - engine. Even with the smaller engine producing 'only' 375bhp, the aerodynamically efficient Countach could attain 170mph (274km/h) and, naturally, came with racetrack roadholding to match. Designated 'LP400' by the factory (LP = Longitudinale Posteriore, describing the engine placement), the first Countach is commonly known as the 'periscopio', after its central periscope, faired into the roof, which provided rearward vision.

 

This stunning example of the revolutionary Countach in its original LP400 'periscopio' form is one of approximately 157 built between 1974 and 1977, which explains why examples are only rarely seen for sale. Fitted with body number '8', chassis number '0016' was delivered new to Germany finished in Nero (black) with Senape (mustard) leather interior. Currently red with beige interior, it has been fitted with the later LP400 S wheels.

 

A ground-breaking design that set new standards for aspiring supercar manufacturers, the Lamborghini Countach is one of the most iconic sports cars of the 20th Century, and none more so than in its earliest and purest LP400 'Periscopio' form.

 

Coachwork by Graber (n° 350)

Chassis n° 57443

One-off

 

3.257 cc

8 in-line

130 ch @ 5.000 rpm

 

Les Grandes Marques du Monde au Grand Palais

Bonhams

Estimated : € 280.000 - 340.000

Sold for € 293.250

 

Parijs - Paris

Frankrijk - France

February 2018

 

The extremely handsome, one off coachbuilt Bugatti presented here is accredited by Bugatti experts to be a collaboration of its original owner with the Swiss coachbuilder Graber who were one of the leading Swiss coachbuilders of their day.

 

Most of Graber's 50 workers were skilled specialists, and the firm regularly displayed their latest creations on their stand at the Geneva Salon. It could be said that they were less flashy than some of the French coachbuilders, less advanced than certain Italian efforts but they were definitely of higher quality than most and displaying the well-balanced design preferred by their wealthy clientele. The success of Hermann Graber's company may be judged by the fact that it perpetuated comfortably into the 1970s, long after many of its pre-war contemporaries had ceased.

 

According to information supplied by Bugattiste Kees Jansen, 57443 was completed by the Bugatti Works in September 1936 and was sold in chassis form to the Bucar Bugatti agency, who had operations in both Berlin and Zurich. This particular order was for the Grob Agency in the Zurich Canton of Horgen. 57443 is one of a handful of Type 57s that were supplied at this time all with chassis numbers in close proximity of each other, notably, 57444, 57446 and 57447. 57443, 57444 and 57447 were all to be equipped with coachwork by Graber. Jansen's records state that the rolling chassis was driven over 150km to Hermann Graber's coachbuilding works on September 21, 1936.

 

The car's original owner is said to have been an architect and was therefore responsible for the design, while the coachbuilder was for its construction. A number of its features including the hood louver treatment are common with other Graber bodies.

 

The result was a dramatically different automobile to the factory offered Pillarless sedan, which was arguably a victim of practicality over style. The car here is a clever, set-back, close-coupled design retaining the popular scalloped side panels synonymous with Bugattis, and dispensing with running boards to accentuate separate 'teardrop' or pontoon fenders. It is unquestionably a success, and it is perhaps only at second glance that one notices the presence of the secondary door. With the spare tire set at the back of the car, the full design of its side from its quarter-batched hood louvers backward is uncompromised, always a sporting styling touch. Another particular feature which is rather interesting are the long 'eared' wheel hub spinners, which it is said were to make wheel removal easier for a lady owner early in its career.

 

By 1960, the Type 57 was the property of Dieter Marx of Basel, and it was there that it was spotted by well known Dutch Bugatti dealer Bart Loyens, using one of the many connections he had forged as a student in Switzerland. The car had apparently been laid up following an engine failure, allowing Loyens to acquire it for a relatively favorable SWF500. He would bring it to the Netherlands and it would remain in Dutch ownership for the next 48 years.

 

Arriving in Holland 57443 was stored in warehouse space he used of the America-Holland Shipping Line, but it was not long before it passed onto the Dutch Bugatti Agent Albatros, owned by the van Ramhorst brothers. At this point, the 'broken' engine was replaced by another correct contemporary Type 57 unit, being over-stamped with the car's chassis number. (Today its original engine is in America having been fitted to Jim Hull's remarkable recreation of the 'Torpedo Competition' completed and debuted in the last few years.)

 

After brief sojourn out of the country, while in the custody of Dutchman Gies Pluim came to an end when his wife decided that they didn't need more than one Bugatti (already owning #43198) the car then passed to Hans Sauerbrier in November 1962 where it would remain until 2008. In Sauerbrier's custody the Bugatti was well maintained, and received an engine rebuild with new block in the 1980s, with the work being carried out by Fa Keizer of Doetinchem. Perhaps also at this time it was upgraded to have the hydraulic brake system as on the later models. With that addition and while retaining correct rubber engine dampers of its series, it is today to the definitive specification of the Type 57.

 

After more than 4 decades of ownership in this family the Bugatti migrated to the U.K. being sold publicly. Its buyer subsequently refurbished the car mechanically before passing it to the current owner.

 

In its present custody, the decision was made to repaint the car in a style more in keeping with others of its brethren accenting the body moldings in a two tone scheme. At the same time, the interior was sympathetically attended to, repairing the original leather. The details of the cabin are particularly attractive and extend to aspects such as the rarely seen accessory of the original leather cover for the steering column.

 

On close inspection, this is a rewarding Bugatti to look at today, its distinct body styling is particularly appealing and the preservation of its interior has ensured that the soul and charm of the car can still be experienced. Bonhams has a great tradition of offering special Bugattis, the latest, this unique example follows firmly in those footsteps and will no doubt be appreciated for its usability in events such as those of the American Bugatti Club or indeed to be shown.

For some reason I always had a bit of an affinity towards these cars, largely due to the fact that they seemed to be smiling with those light clusters. But much like the Maestro, it had purpose, it was innovative, and it was a car that refused to die!

 

The Austin Montego first started development life way back in 1977 under project code LC10 (Leyland Cars 10), as an intended replacement for the Morris Marina and the Princess. However, like many of the company's promising projects, such as the Maestro and the Metro, it was shelved for years on account of the fact that British Leyland ran out of money! After a corporate bailout by the British Government, the company chose instead to prolong the development of these cars and instead simply give the existing Marina and Princess a facelift, resulting in the Morris Ital and Austin Ambassador, both cars notable for being unimpressively bland masterpieces.

 

However, this delay did give British Leyland a chance to tie up with Honda, and in 1980 launched the Triumph Acclaim as both the first Japanese/British hybrid car, but also British Leyland's first consistently reliable product! The result was that both the simultaneously developed Austin Maestro and Montego could take some leaves out of Honda's book and therefore improve the reliability. Styling came from David Bache, who had previously had a hand in penning the Rover P4, the Rover SD1 and the Range Rover, and Roy Axe, who would later go on to style the Rover 800 and the Rolls Royce Silver Seraph. The lengthy development time of the car however clearly showed as the first sketches of the car were done back in 1975. Apparently when Roy Axe, who took over as Director of Design in 1982, saw the first prototype with the original design, he was so horrified that he suggested they scrap the whole thing and start over!

 

However, their combined design talent truly shows through with the Montego as in essence these are very handsome cars, with a long smooth body, a pleasing frontal alignment and design, and internally very capable and comfortable. Some novel features included were the colour coordinated bumpers that matched the rest of the car, and the wiper spindles hiding under the bonnet when parked.

 

Although many consider the Maestro just to be a hatchback version of the Montego, there were many features the Montego had that made it an all around better car. These included a new S-Series engine in place of the A-Series engine that dated back to the 1950's, and a more practical and robust dashboard. Variations of the car included the stylish and luxury Vanden Plas, which was styled internally by the world renowned coachbuilder with lavish wood veneer and seating (thankfully not given a chrome nose, that would have been insane!), the sporty MG Montego which featured a higher performance O-Series Turob Engine and a revolutionary synthesised computer voice that announced problems and warnings, and finally the Estate versions which were by far the most popular and received almost unanimous acclaim for their spacious interior.

 

The Montego was launched on April 25th 1984, being available at first as a 4-door saloon to replace the standard Morris Ital, but the Ital in estate form continued on until August, bringing an end to the 11 year old Morris Marina family. In October the Estate version was launched at the British International Motor Show. Initially things were looking up for the Montego, as mentioned the Estate version was lauded for its practicality, the MG Montego became the fastest MG ever built with 115hp to rocket it up to a top speed of 126mph at a rate of 0-60 in 7.1 seconds, and the Vanden Plas was a modest success for the business executive, as well as finding a home in the company car market.

 

Promotion for the car also helped to seal the deal with a fantastically choreographed advert where professional stunt driver Russ Swift, pretty much danced around a crowded car park in a Montego, doing reverse 180's in gaps only a few feet wide, and driving the car on two wheels through a gap only a ruler's length apart! Jeremy Clarkson would attempt to do the same thing 14 years later on one of his DVD's in another Montego, again with the help of Russ Swift, which went well the first time, but not so well the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth or seventh time. Eventually the Montego was smashed in half by a large truck in a fiery explosion.

 

Sadly though, the honeymoon like with all good British Leyland cars was short lived, and soon afterwards the various faults and build quality problems became once again apparent. Although many of the features fitted to these cars such as the synthesised voice, the computer engine management and the redesigned dashboard were endearing, the main fault that these cars had were in the electrics, which would frequently go wrong. Some examples I've heard from early Montego owners have included the car failing to start, pressing the indicator switch only to blow the horn, or the synthesised talking lady never, ever, ever shutting up! Because of these problems the cars built up a very quick and poor reputation, added to by the poor construction of the actual car, with the colour coded bumpers being particularly problematic as they'd crack in cold weather.

 

But British Leyland didn't give up on the Montego, and in the background designers continued to tinker with the idea of further additions and changes to the car. Throughout the period following its introduction, British Leyland began to be broken up by the Thatcher Government, with Jaguar being made independent, the various parts manufacturers such as UNIPART being sold off, Leyland Trucks and Buses being sold to Volvo and DAF, and eventually the whole outfit being reduced to just MG and Rover. The Montego has been credited with being the last car to carry the Austin name, the badge being dropped in 1988 with future cars simply being dubbed the Montego. This coincided with a facelift in 1989 and the re-engineering of the car to be fitted with a Perkins Diesel. In 1989 a new seven-seater estate model was created called the Montego Countryman, built to combat the rising trend of People-Carriers such as the Renault Espace, but still being able to perform as well as a regular car. This, much like the original estate, proved immensely popular, especially in France for some reason, which went on to be one of the Montego's major markets.

 

In the early 90's the Montego did start getting back some reputation, winning the CAR Magazine's 'Giant Test' (all technical names I'm sure) when competing against the likes of the Citroen BX and the Audi 80. In fact the Rover Montego Turbo became a favourite with the RAF, and was used to whisk Officers across airfields as a personal transport. The Montego may have failed to outdo the Volkswagen Passat, but as for the British mob such as the Ford Sierra and the Vauxhall Cavalier, it was able competition. In fact when I was young in the 90's a lot of kids I'd see dropped off to school would be in then new Montego's because by this point the reliability issues had been ironed out following Rover Group's return to private ownership under British Aerospace.

 

But by 1992 the car was very much looking its age and was in desperate need of a replacement. In 1993 the Rover 600 was launched which pretty much ended the Montego for mass-production then and there, but special orders for the car continued until 1995. The machines continued to be a favourite among Company Car firms, and a lot of the developments made in the Montego lived on in later Rover cars, primarily the 600 and the 75, which inherited its rear suspension which was often held in high regard. But the curtain did eventually fall for the official Montego production in 1995 as new owners BMW desired nothing more than to be out with the old and in with the new, with facelifts all around including a new Rover 25 to replace the 200, a new Rover 45 to replace the 400, and a new Rover 75 to replace the 800, and the original Range Rover was revamped into the absolutely magnificent Range Rover P38 in 1995. The Maestro too was axed and the Metro followed not long afterwards in 1999, with the classic Mini being killed off in 2000, only to be brought back to life the same year under BMW management after the breakup of Rover that year.

 

But like the Maestro, the Montego simply wouldn't die, but unlike the Maestro, attempts to revive the car under bootlegged brands weren't as prosperous. In India, the company Sipani Automobiles, notable for attempting to recreate British cars such as the Reliant Kitten but instead consistently turning out garbage, attempted to built a few, but folded soon afterwards. In Trinidad & Tobago, a small firm attempted to sell their own copycat versions of the Montego, which were notable for their exceptional poor quality. But most famously was the attempt to recreate the car in China with the Lubao CA 6410, which yoked the nose of a Montego onto the back of a Maestro using a Maestro platform. Today that car is technically still in production as the Jiefang CA 6440 UA Van, but owes more to the Maestro than the Montego.

 

Today the Montego is a very rare car to find. Of the 571,000 cars built, only 296 remain, making it Britain's 8th most scrapped car. Contributing to this, areas of the bodywork that were to be covered by plastic trim (such as the front and rear bumpers) were left unpainted and thus unprotected. In addition, pre-1989 models cannot run on unleaded petrol without the cylinder head being converted or needing fuel additives.

 

However, as mentioned, the Montego estate was a huge hit in France, and chances are you'll find a fair number ambling about the countryside there. Malta too was another popular locale for the Montego, as well as many other British Leyland cars, including Marina's, Allegros and even Princesses!

 

My opinion on the Montego? Like most British Leyland cars it had prospects and purpose, but lacked the desire to build good, honest cars. It was comfortable, it was handsome, it performed as well as a family saloon car should, it was spacious and very well equipped, and like many British Leyland cars, such as the Princess with its Hydragas suspension, it was innovative. If these cars had been built better and had some of the teething problems ironed out with the electrical systems, then British Leyland could have easily gone on to make the family car of the 1980's. But like all pathfinders in the world of technology, they will suffer the full brunt of the problems they are most likely to experience.

 

People rarely remember the originals, only the one's that perfected it...

www.nationaltrust.org.uk/oakhurst-cottage/features/oakhur...

 

A small half-timbered house, built in the 16th century. Oakhurst has been refurbished by the National Trust as a farm labourer's dwelling, with displays relating to 4 centuries of occupation. The house is set in lovely Victorian-style gardens.

Located just off the cricket green in Hambledon village is a small timber-framed 16th century cottage. Oakhurst is just one of several historic properties owned by the National Trust in Hambledon, but it is the only one regularly open to the public.

 

Oakhurst was probably not intended for habitation, but as a barn. Sometime in the 1500s it was converted into a cottage, and was lived in until the mid-20th century. The building was rarely renovated or updated, so provides a wonderful glimpse into the past. See the kitchen with its huge brick hearth topped by a dark oak beam, and the uneven floor laid with large tiles.

 

The cottage has been furnished with traditional country furniture, showing how residents lived here over the centuries, with a focus on the Victorian period. Oakhurst is set in a small cottage garden, combining practicalities like vegetables, fruit, and culinary herbs, with colourful flowers. The gardens have been planted to resemble contemporary paintings of Oakhurst.

 

To one side of the garden is a small barn, beside an outdoor privy. The barn has been furnished with traditional tools that would have been used for gardening and household maintenance. The privy was in use up until 1994, and was regularly visited by the last Hambledon nightsoil man.

 

Due to the cottage's small size and age, it can only be visited via a pre-booked, guided tour. See the National Trust website for tour details.

Ford's forth generation Focus, codenamed C519 launched in 2018, replacing the previous C346 Focus in markets outside North America.

 

One semi-crossover variant, the Focus Active, was due to be built in China for export to the US, but was cancelled due to a trade dispute.

 

The C519 model retained the 5-door hatchback, saloon and estate models of the previous version, with the added Active variant a high-riding version of the hatchback or estate.

 

Most Focus C519 models are powered by 3-cylinder Ecoboost engines of 1.0L or 1.5L capacity, while 1.5L and 2.0L Panther 4-cylinder diesels are available, but with lower customer takeup due to market shift away from Diesels. A 2.3L Ecoboost is available in the performance ST trim.

 

The model shown is the high-specification Titanium Hatchback in one of the louder reddish-orange hues, which currently resides in my driveway (not driving much during COVID) as my company car.

 

I love the colour, and the practicality and functional performance are strong points. The fuel economy, and the lack of luxury feel are negatives.

Strength and power come directly from intention and then action in that order, sure. But to break it down to more than that, it takes a deep harnessing of spiritual intention and activated genuine desire to do something to get anything genuinely done, good or bad. Desire is desire, like a river is a river, it flows no matter what to where it needs to go. Activated desire is like an uncontrollably flowing river that goes where it needs to go and wants to go. Desire is the power behind it all as a spiritual concept, especially when it is activated through purity of action, whatever it may be.

 

The way to harness life energy productively is to use it, no matter how it is used. Like a river uses the ground to move its water. Or a plant grows through being nourished by the river on the riverside. To increase, harness and control life energy this is all that is necessary in every genuine way.

 

Now sure, it begins with thinking and it ends with persistence and achievement. That simple. I am coming from a place of deep honesty, reality and practicality about the situation as it all really is.

 

So, when it is said, "by all means persist." That saying has been fully decoded for you here in this picture: The isolation of life energy in fully practical terms.

 

Taken: Hussaini Village, Hike back to KKH from Borit Lake, Upper Hunza, Near Passu, Northern Areas of Pakistan.

 

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The original Iron Man costume worn on set of the movie by Robert Downey Jr..

 

This picture got me almost thrown out of the Met by a security guard, because there were no pictures allowed (special exhibition).

  

---

The challenge in designing a costume such as Ironman is that it has to serve two masters. First and foremost, in order for the film to work, the audience's disbelief must be suspended. The suit must be a convincing technological artifact: a wearable airplane, a powered suit of armor. Every detail must seem carefully thought out and evoke our experience of functional technology. You must believe this could be built and fly.

 

At the same time, once Tony Stark dons the costume he cannot simply be a man in a metal suit. He must become another character entirely, with his own identity, his own personality. Ironman must look every part the hero. The design must be a simple iconic gesture, human enough to become superhuman. The forms must convey mechanical athleticism, denoting muscularity and potency while seeming to serve aerodynamics and articulation. Shoulder blades become ailerons, serratus muscles become venting louvers. It should feel as if the shape mimics the human body and a sports car in equal parts—not as a means to manipulate perception, but as the inevitable product of some artificial evolution.

 

—Phil Saunders

 

Iron Man is a unique challenge in the superhero world because he is, depending on how you choose to look at it, both a superhero in the traditional sense, and a technological device based on science rather than superpowers. That is more true today than ever before because a lot of today’s technology is catching up to the science-fiction Iron Man is based on; while he was once a far-fetched fantastical idea, today he is a believable possibility. In designing the character, as well as his villains, I chose to look at it from a technological perspective and let a level of practicality dictate the aesthetics. The difficult part is that he still has to be a superheroic icon in the true Marvel fashion, so the challenge was to keep the larger-than-life, elegant silhouette and color scheme, which makes him instantly recognizable and which dates to the 1960s, and makes him as iconic as Spider-Man or Captain America, but update it for the current times. The biggest inspirations for my vision of Iron Man were the modern jet-fighters and sports cars with their active aerodynamics, various flaps, winglets, etc., which add a level of believability and practicality, but allow the design to maintain an elegance, much like those machines—an outer skin hiding a whole array of devices.

 

Iron Man Mark 2 and 3 were a collaboration between the designer Phil Saunders and myself, and our various strengths combined to create what I believe to be a very successful manifestation of that practical superhero idea. The suit in the movie is, for all intents and purposes, as much of a wearable aircraft as a superhero outfit. It maintains all of the key features Iron Man possesses in comics, but adds a huge level of detail and technology which makes him be as believable in motion on the cinema screens as he is.

 

—Adi Granov

 

www.metmuseum.org/special/superheroes/

 

When you think of poor cars and the worst era of British Industry, most will cite the Austin Allegro, a car that truly is a staple of its time, and those times were pretty grim to say the least! It has become a symbol of failure, a monument to catastrophic engineering, a beacon of impracticality and a terrible tribute to an age we Brits would sooner forget.

 

Bit is the Austin Allegro really deserving of such maligned opinions? Should we really hate it as much as we do?

 

The story of the Allegro goes back to the previous model of its range, the Austin 1100, a car that had become symbolic of the British family motor industry, with crisp smooth lines, round peeking headlights and a good blend of space and practicality, it sold by the millions and could have almost been described as a family equivalent of the Mini, novelty that you can use everyday. Trouble was that the 1100 was starting to look very much its age in 1971, and thus British Leyland, the new owners of Austin, took it upon themselves to design a new car that would be sheek and European, something that could win both the British and the International markets.

 

For this they enlisted the help of Chief BL Designer Harris Mann, famous for many great BL products such as the Marina, the Ital, the Princess and the Triumph TR7. Today many people blame him for the poor designs that the company spewed out onto the roads of Britain, but I personally feel sorry for him, especially with cars such as the Allegro. His original design for the car was an angular and very streamlined looking piece of kit, a hatchback and with two fins on the rear to compliment the long smooth waistband, making it look almost reminiscent of an Aston Martin DB5 crossed with a 1969 DBS. However, his promising designs were sadly watered down by British Leyland, tinkered, altered, and, quite frankly, ruined his idea to become what it is, with its bathtub curves, long sloping back and piggy headlights. I will say, it's not the ugliest car in the world, far from it, I've seen much worse like the Pontiac Aztek which looks like a cross between a Bug and a mutant Rhino, but when you compare it to Harris Mann's original sketches, then, and only then, do you understand how far down the Allegro design came.

 

But styling wasn't what BL expected to win the market with, but instead with the car's practicality, starting with the new Hydragas suspension to replace the previous Hydrolastic suspension of the 1100. With this suspension, The Allegro intended to lock horns with the likes of the outgoing Citroën DS and its replacement the CX. Hydragas uses displaced spheres of Nitrogen gas to replace the conventional steel springs of a regular suspension design. The means for pressurising the gas in the displacers is done by pre-pressurising a hydraulic fluid, and then connecting the displacer to its neighbour on the other axle. This is unlike the Citroën system, which uses hydraulic fluid continuously pressurised by an engine-driven pump and regulated by a central pressure vessel. However, the attempt at being an outstanding motor ended at Hydragas because there was nothing else particularly endearing about the Allegro. The interior was cheap, nasty and very cramped, especially in the back where you couldn't even fit a bag of shopping let alone your children! Rather than taking the sensible approach of the competition by fitting the car with a hatchback for more boot space, the car was just fitted with a tiny little trunk that you couldn't fit a bag of shopping into either! The engine, the BMC A-Series, was carried over from the 1100, which was a fine little engine, perky and fairly reliable if maintained properly, as well as the heater being carried over from the Morris Marina, but I'm no judge of heaters so I won't say if that was for good or for ill. Most jarring however was when the car was fitted with a square steering wheel! Probably the most memorable part of the Allegro is the fact that it was given a quartic steering wheel, which BL claimed was for ease of access to the front seat and so that the instruments could be seen, which leaves one asking whether you couldn't see them with a round steering wheel! In the end even Harris Mann disowned the car with disappointment, claiming it was nothing like his original idea, which is pretty bad when even the Chief Designer disowns it!

 

Either way, in spite of Mr. Mann's space-age design being watered down to something unrecognisable and with only Hydragas suspension to make it any different from anything else on the market, the Allegro was launched in 1973 with a promotional trip to Marbella in the south of Spain, and early reviews, despite there being a unanimous dislike to the car's shape and styling, were quite warm, many praising the comfort of the Hydragas suspension. However, reviews of the drive quality, such as the car's heavy steering and cheap, plastic interior, were less favourable.

 

Nevertheless, initial sales of the Allegro were promising and it was in 1973 one of the best selling cars of the year, but things truly went for the plunge soon afterwards, and the car never fully recovered. The flaws of the design became prominent, followed by British Leyland's infamous low quality builds. Roofs, panels and boots leaked, rear wheels flew off, and rumour has it that these cars were banned from the Mersey Tunnel in Liverpool because they couldn't be towed after a breakdown without the chassis bending in the middle! Engines failed to start, wiring was abysmal, rear windows popped out, the paint colours were dreary and dismal, the car would rust before you got it home and many commented that the car had a better drag co-efficiency going backwards!

 

The Allegro did come in a selection of variants, including an estate, a sporty coupé known as the Equipe, and a very strange luxury variant known as the Vanden Plas 1500, a peculiar which was fitted with luxury items carried over from the Jaguar XJ range and had a big chrome nose yoked onto the front to try and make it look reminiscent of a Rolls Royce or a Bentley. Only problem is that Rolls Royce's and Bentley's have their front ends designed around the chrome nose, and thus the result was that it looked something like a pig! Also, another thing about Rollers and Bentleys is that they're much, much bigger than a tiny Allegro, which had absolutely no legroom in the back which made the concept entirely pointless! The car was also sold in Italy as the Innocenti Regent, nothing particularly different apart from different badges.

 

In 1975 the Allegro II was launched to try and redress some of the issues with the original car, including a slightly altered front-end and some minor changes internally, but overall it was very much the same. These changes however weren't enough to save the car's dwindling reputation, and even though the BL advertisers continued to lay on the imaginative promotion, the car was still losing heavily to the likes of the Ford Cortina.

 

The final variant, the Allegro III, had the most changes upon its launch in 1979, including a new version of the A-Series engine and quad round headlights to make it look a bit more modern. Apart from that the car was still very much the same as it was in 1973, and it was truly showing its age. British Leyland, recovering from the bankruptcy of 1977, attempted to rationalise the company by pulling out of the sports car range as well as some of their older products. The MG sportsters were killed off in 1980 and their factory closed whilst production of the Allegro and the Mini were slowed down as they prepared to discontinue to both of them in favour of the Austin Metro. The Morris Marina and Princess were replaced by the mostly identical Morris Ital and the Austin Ambassador, and Triumph was now being used to pioneer a tie up with Japan to create good and reliable cars in the form of the Triumph Acclaim.

 

The hammer eventually fell on the Allegro after 9 years of production in 1982 when the Austin Maestro was launched after 5 years of development. In all, 642,000 Allegros left the factory during its lifetime, but today less than 250 are known to exist, with many rusting away or being part exchanged for a plant pot by the time 1990 hit. The reputation of these cars is still very much maligned by both critics and motoring enthusiasts alike, with it topping many people's worst car in history lists, and becoming Britain's worst car of all time followed closely by the Morris Marina. Top Gear were always quick to bash the Allegro, with two of the ambiguous Vaden Plas 1500's meeting their maker, one being smashed with a suspended Morris Marina in a giant game of Bar Skittles, whilst another was driven in reverse off a ramp and smashed into a pile of scrapyard cars.

 

Me personally? I feel that the Allegro was a car with promise and premise, but the abilities of British Leyland fell far short of their ambitions, not helped by their incompetence and desire to commit corporate suicide. If the car had been built as Harris Mann had designed, been given a hatchback, and had been created with the slightest semblance of sense, then it could have truly been a winner. As it is, the car is now a sorry marker in the world of broken dreams, one that we simply choose to forget and never forgive.

MG ZT-T Estate (2001-05) Engine 1798cc S4

 

Registration Number BX 02 RGV

 

MG SET

 

www.flickr.com/photos/45676495@N05/sets/72157623797586658...

The Rover 75 was unveiled to the public at the 1998 Birmingham Motor Show, with deliveries commencing in February 1999 2001 saw the introduction of the Rover 75 Tourer (developed alongside the saloon but never authorised for production by BMW), swiftly followed by the MG ZT and MG ZT-T, more sporting interpretations of the model, differentiated by modified, sporting chassis settings and colour and trim derivatives

The ZT-T was the MG Estate car version, launched alongside its sibling Rover 75 Tourer. They were was designed to offer Rover customers a greater degree of practicality while retaining the 75's sleek looks and high-class image. The tailgate is fitted with a separate opening rear screen, allowing owners to drop items into the boot, without having to lift up the whole door. Once the door is opened, however, the load space is up to 1,480 mm wide and 2,060 mm long. With the seats up there is a competitive 400 to 680 litres of cargo space, and with the seats folded down (in a 60:40 ratio complete with centre load-through hatch) there is 1,222 litres available, making it more of a 'lifestyle' estate than all-out load lugger.

 

Shot 13:04:2013 at The Pride of Longbridge Rally, Cofton Park, Birmingham REF 90b-511

 

THERE’S A SPECIAL place in the custom motorcycle scene for motorcycles that eschew practicality, in order to push boundaries. This BMW R nineT from Zillers Garage in Russia is hardly the ideal grocery getter or tourer, but the level of craftsmanship at play here is on another level. And that’s why we love it.

 

Zillers Garage is run by Dmitry Golubchikov—an AMD Championship winner who wowed us with his custom Vincent a few months ago. He mostly works alone, but occasionally calls in reinforcements on bigger projects. The commission for this R nineT came from BMW Motorrad Russia, but the inspiration came from the world of aviation.

 

Dmitry started out with a 2016-model R nineT, but all that’s really left now is the motor, final drive arm and part of the frame. Just about everything else was created in-house, with the bike taking a full ten months to complete.

 

The R nineT’s most striking feature is undoubtedly its retro-futuristic bodywork. With the exception of the boxer cylinder heads still poking out, the entire bike is wrapped in hand-formed aluminum sections. And the lines are inspired—from the robotic visage up front, right through to the classically styled tail section.

Piper waits to perform on Royal Mile, Edinburgh

The photo appears to have been staged with them all having a cigarette hanging out of their mouths. Have they swapped hats too, for a joke? Despite the names on the back it's difficult to actually identify the actual soldiers, except for Reg Jephcott.

 

Named on the back left to right:

English Tommy - An English soldier?.....but is he?

 

Hookey Walker - possibly David Henry Walker #2022 - Imperial Camel Corps.

 

Fatty Wright - this man has Sergeant stripes

(I found a Trooper Alexander Robertson Wright KIA 6 Nov 1917, 3rd Australian Battn Imperial Camel Corps)

 

(I also found a Lieutenant Charles Robert Victor Wright - 1st Anzac Battalion - Imperial Camel Corps - he earned a Military Cross and Serbian Order of the White Eagle, Third Class and became a Major - and was later given an O.B.E.)

 

Vic Reynolds

I found Victor Arthur Reynolds #2347 - 1st Anzac Battalion - Signalman - serving in Egypt - in the 1st Imperial Camel Corps. He is listed with Alexander Robertson Wright in the 9th Light Horse Regiment, 16th reinforcements, so quite possible these two men are the ones in the photo.)

 

Reg Jephcott - this man has Sergeant stripes

(I found 2nd/Lieutenant Reginald Francis Jephcott #13 - 1st Anzac Battalion Headquarters and 1st Imperial Camel Corps in Egypt - he earned the Military Cross.)

 

The Imperial Camel Corps (ICC) was formed in January 1916 in order to deal with the revolt of pro-Turkish Senussi tribesmen in Egypt's Western Desert. The first four companies were recruited from Australian infantry battalions recuperating after Gallipoli. Four battalions were eventually formed. The 1st and 3rd were entirely Australian, the 2nd was British, and the 4th was a mix of Australians and New Zealanders. The ICC also had its own machine gun unit, and a battery of light artillery recruited in Hong Kong and Singapore.

 

The operations of the ICC in the Western Desert in 1916 were characterised by long patrols and brief skirmishes with the Senussi. British commanders in Egypt appreciated the fighting qualities of the ICC and in late 1916 the ICC was transferred to the Sinai desert to take part in operations against the Turkish army. Here the battalions of the ICC fought alongside Australian light horse units at Romani, Magdhaba and Rafa.

 

The ICC remained an integral part of the British and dominion force that advanced north through Palestine in 1917 and 1918. It suffered particularly heavily during the Second Battle of Gaza on 19 April 1917, and in the operations conducted in November to destroy the Turkish defensive line between Gaza and Beersheba. As the ICC moved into the more fertile country of northern Palestine, its practicality declined. The camels needed more fodder and water than equivalent numbers of horses, and, unimpeded by the desert, horses could move much faster. The bulk of the ICC was disbanded in June 1918 and the Australians were used to form the 14th and 15th Light Horse Regiments.

 

The men of the ICC had a rough reputation, largely because when the Corps was originally formed Australian battalion commanders had seized upon it as an opportunity to offload some of their more difficult characters. In 1917 a British supply dump at Rafa was warned to double their guards as the ICC was going to be camped nearby. The men of the ICC were, however, resourceful and effective. While defending a hill called Musallabeh in April 1918, some Australians of the ICC ran out of hand grenades. They resorted to heaving boulders down upon the attacking Turks and eventually fought them off. The hill became known as the "Camel's Hump".

(Australian War Memorial)

"Many different architectural styles can be found among the plantation homes along Louisiana’s Great River Road and throughout the south. Wherever wealth, social status, and heartfelt hospitality converged, these antebellum structures — some more grand than others — rose to reflect these and other characteristics of the landowners.

 

Some of the main houses were simple home places designed as raised Creole cottages made largely from native Cypress and built for comfort and practicality.

 

Others took the form of grand mansions; some expressed in styles of Greek Revival, Italianate, Federal or other architectural styles. To a great extent, the point of these elegant and dramatic southern mansions was to emulate the grand homes and villas of wealthy Europeans who set the standard of the day for exhibiting wealth and expressing style.

 

Upon its completion in 1840, Houmas House was the Crown Jewel of Louisiana’s River Road with its heroically-columned Greek Revival exterior topped by a belvedere that surveyed the Oak alley leading south to the sweeping bend in the Mississippi and the miles and miles of cane fields to the north and east.

 

But that 1840 mansion with its broad galleries and thick masonry walls had humble beginnings in the mid-1700’s when the original house was built on the site by Maurice Conway and Alexandre Latil, New Orleans businessmen who purchased the property from the Houmas Indians. Latil designed a more modest home that reflected both the French and Spanish architectural influences that still define Louisiana’s heritage. The smaller residence that also houses the kitchen and is now connected at the back of the Mansion by a carriageway was, indeed, the original Latil House.

 

architecture1After Gen. Wade Hampton of South Carolina bought the property in 1810, his son-in-law Col. John Preston and daughter Caroline began construction on the present Mansion. As was often the practice in those days, the great house grew in stages and reached its final full dimension in 1840.

 

The Mansion is an excellent example of the peripteral type of Greek Revival architecture in which the main structure is surrounded by grand columns, each with an uninterrupted span from ground level to the roofline.

 

Among Houmas House Plantation and Gardens’ unique features are twin Garconierre, very rare among plantation homes. Federal arched dormers stand above the large Doric galleries.

 

Inside, a free-standing, three-story helix staircase follows the corresponding curvature of the adjacent wall.

 

Nearly 100 years after the Mansion was completed, Dr. George Crozat purchased Houmas House as his country escape from his city place in New Orleans. Determined to “Federalize” the look of the home, Dr. Crozat removed ornate features such as cornices, crown moldings, and ceiling medallions and painted the structure white, both inside and out. During this time, modern plumbing was added and several changes were made to the service quarters, including the addition of an upstairs hallway to connect the two structures and the installation of a striking Palladian window that provides a view of the fountain courtyard.

 

When New Orleans businessman and preservationist Kevin Kelly fulfilled a lifelong dream by purchasing the home in early summer, 2003, he set about recreating the experience of encountering Houmas House circa 1840.

 

Houmas House staircaseToday, visitors to Houmas house encounter Kelly’s loving salute to the grand property’s antebellum heritage his respectful homage to his antebellum predecessors.

 

The mansion’s faux marble exterior is painted in rich ochre which reflects the influence of Mediterranean villas owned by the wealthy Europeans that the southern planters emulated. The belvedere that crowns the house has been restored, and interior features and finishes have been reinstalled in their original form. The twin Garconierre that distinguish the property have been renovated. And the central hallway of the grand house bears a room-size mural with a sugar cane motif that characterizes the original entryway artwork common in many plantation homes along the Mississippi."

Taken from as it appeared on 28MAR2018.

As a confirmed bibliophile, I am fascinated by the Little Free Library boxes folks put up outside of their homes. This program where you can take and/or leave a book dates back to 2009 and there are now more than 100,000 of these boxes sprinkled across 108 countries.

 

There’s usually a pretty diverse array of kids’ titles, bestsellers, and curious older Americana selections. I’ve never taken a book for myself from one of these libraries, but I enjoy rooting around in them looking for gems as well as leaving treasures for others.

 

I recently noticed two Little Free Library boxes in Geneva, Illinois that stand apart from others I’ve seen in that each is a miniature version of the owner’s home. This is an enchanting symbol to display in that this mini-home is pared down to contain a single object of powerful symbolism: the book.

 

The sanctity of the real home is dynamic: it can be divided up across multiple family members; it can contain internal contradictions of philosophy or practicality; there are usually multiple task-specific spaces; however, and perhaps most importantly, everyone’s home remains off limits to the public. It is a private space.

 

To create a miniature version of your home that anyone walking down the street can metaphorically enter is an inspiring act of generosity and sends a message that the owner of the Library values some combination of the dissemination of knowledge, the joy of reading, and the fellowship of community.

Kālī, also known as Kālikā (Sanskrit: कालिका), is the Hindu goddess associated with empowerment, shakti. She is the fierce aspect of the goddess Durga (Parvati). The name Kali comes from kāla, which means black, time, death, lord of death: Shiva. Since Shiva is called Kāla— the eternal time — the name of Kālī, his consort, also means "Time" or "Death" (as in "time has come"). Hence, Kāli is the Goddess of Time and Change. Although sometimes presented as dark and violent, her earliest incarnation as a figure of annihilation of evil forces still has some influence. Various Shakta Hindu cosmologies, as well as Shākta Tantric beliefs, worship her as the ultimate reality or Brahman. Comparatively recent devotional movements largely conceive Kāli as a benevolent mother goddess. Kālī is represented as the consort of Lord Shiva, on whose body she is often seen standing. Shiva lies in the path of Kali, whose foot on Shiva subdues her anger.

 

ETYMOLOGY

Kālī is the feminine form of kālam ("black, dark coloured"). Kāla primarily means "time" but also means "black" in honor of being the first creation before light itself. Kālī means "the black one" and refers to her being the entity of "time" or "beyond time." Kāli is strongly associated with Shiva, and Shaivas derive the masculine Kāla (an epithet of Shiva) to come from her feminine name. A nineteenth-century Sanskrit dictionary, the Shabdakalpadrum, states: कालः शिवः। तस्य पत्नीति - काली। kālaḥ śivaḥ। tasya patnīti kālī - "Shiva is Kāla, thus, his consort is Kāli" referring to Devi Parvathi being a manifestation of Devi MahaKali.

 

Other names include Kālarātri ("black night"), as described above, and Kālikā ("relating to time"). Coburn notes that the name Kālī can be used as a proper name, or as a description of color.

 

Kāli's association with darkness stands in contrast to her consort, Shiva, who manifested after her in creation, and who symbolises the rest of creation after Time is created. In his supreme awareness of Maya, his body is covered by the white ashes of the cremation ground (Sanskrit: śmaśāna) where he meditates, and with which Kāli is also associated, as śmaśāna-kālī.

 

ORIGINS

Hugh Urban notes that although the word Kālī appears as early as the Atharva Veda, the first use of it as a proper name is in the Kathaka Grhya Sutra (19.7). Kali is the name of one of the seven tongues of Agni, the [Rigvedic] God of Fire, in the Mundaka Upanishad (2:4), but it is unlikely that this refers to the goddess. The first appearance of Kāli in her present form is in the Sauptika Parvan of the Mahabharata (10.8.64). She is called Kālarātri (literally, "black night") and appears to the Pandava soldiers in dreams, until finally she appears amidst the fighting during an attack by Drona's son Ashwatthama. She most famously appears in the sixth century Devi Mahatmyam as one of the shaktis of Mahadevi, and defeats the demon Raktabija ("Bloodseed"). The tenth-century Kalika Purana venerates Kāli as the ultimate reality.

 

According to David Kinsley, Kāli is first mentioned in Hinduism as a distinct goddess around 600 CE, and these texts "usually place her on the periphery of Hindu society or on the battlefield." She is often regarded as the Shakti of Shiva, and is closely associated with him in various Puranas. The Kalika Purana depicts her as the "Adi Shakti" (Fundamental Power) and "Para Prakriti" or beyond nature.

 

WORSHIP & MANTRA

Kali could be considered a general concept, like Durga, and is mostly worshiped in the Kali Kula sect of worship. The closest way of direct worship is Maha Kali or Bhadra Kali (Bhadra in Sanskrit means 'gentle'). Kali is worshiped as one of the 10 Mahavidya forms of Adi Parashakti (Goddess Durga) or Bhagavathy according to the region. The mantra for worship is called Devi Argala Stotram.

Sanskrit: सर्वमङ्गलमाङ्गल्ये शिवे सर्वार्थसाधिके । शरण्ये त्र्यम्बके गौरि नारायणि नमोऽस्तु ते ॥

 

ॐ जयंती मंगल काली भद्रकाली कपालिनी । दुर्गा क्षमा शिवा धात्री स्वाहा स्वधा नमोऽस्तु‍ते ॥

(Sarvamaṅgalamāṅgalyē śivē sarvārthasādhikē . śaraṇyē tryambakē gauri nārāyaṇi namō'stu tē.

Oṃ jayantī mangala kālī bhadrakālī kapālinī . durgā kṣamā śivā dhātrī svāhā svadhā namō'stu‍tē.)

 

TANTRA

Goddesses play an important role in the study and practice of Tantra Yoga, and are affirmed to be as central to discerning the nature of reality as are the male deities. Although Parvati is often said to be the recipient and student of Shiva's wisdom in the form of Tantras, it is Kāli who seems to dominate much of the Tantric iconography, texts, and rituals. In many sources Kāli is praised as the highest reality or greatest of all deities. The Nirvana-tantra says the gods Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva all arise from her like bubbles in the sea, ceaselessly arising and passing away, leaving their original source unchanged. The Niruttara-tantra and the Picchila-tantra declare all of Kāli's mantras to be the greatest and the Yogini-tantra, Kamakhya-tantra and the Niruttara-tantra all proclaim Kāli vidyas (manifestations of Mahadevi, or "divinity itself"). They declare her to be an essence of her own form (svarupa) of the Mahadevi.

 

In the Mahanirvana-tantra, Kāli is one of the epithets for the primordial sakti, and in one passage Shiva praises her:

 

At the dissolution of things, it is Kāla [Time] Who will devour all, and by reason of this He is called Mahākāla [an epithet of Lord Shiva], and since Thou devourest Mahākāla Himself, it is Thou who art the Supreme Primordial Kālika. Because Thou devourest Kāla, Thou art Kāli, the original form of all things, and because Thou art the Origin of and devourest all things Thou art called the Adya [the Primordial One]. Re-assuming after Dissolution Thine own form, dark and formless, Thou alone remainest as One ineffable and inconceivable. Though having a form, yet art Thou formless; though Thyself without beginning, multiform by the power of Maya, Thou art the Beginning of all, Creatrix, Protectress, and Destructress that Thou art.

 

The figure of Kāli conveys death, destruction, and the consuming aspects of reality. As such, she is also a "forbidden thing", or even death itself. In the Pancatattva ritual, the sadhaka boldly seeks to confront Kali, and thereby assimilates and transforms her into a vehicle of salvation. This is clear in the work of the Karpuradi-stotra, a short praise of Kāli describing the Pancatattva ritual unto her, performed on cremation grounds. (Samahana-sadhana)

 

He, O Mahākāli who in the cremation-ground, naked, and with dishevelled hair, intently meditates upon Thee and recites Thy mantra, and with each recitation makes offering to Thee of a thousand Akanda flowers with seed, becomes without any effort a Lord of the earth. Oh Kāli, whoever on Tuesday at midnight, having uttered Thy mantra, makes offering even but once with devotion to Thee of a hair of his Shakti [his energy/female companion] in the cremation-ground, becomes a great poet, a Lord of the earth, and ever goes mounted upon an elephant.

 

The Karpuradi-stotra clearly indicates that Kāli is more than a terrible, vicious, slayer of demons who serves Durga or Shiva. Here, she is identified as the supreme mistress of the universe, associated with the five elements. In union with Lord Shiva, she creates and destroys worlds. Her appearance also takes a different turn, befitting her role as ruler of the world and object of meditation. In contrast to her terrible aspects, she takes on hints of a more benign dimension. She is described as young and beautiful, has a gentle smile, and makes gestures with her two right hands to dispel any fear and offer boons. The more positive features exposed offer the distillation of divine wrath into a goddess of salvation, who rids the sadhaka of fear. Here, Kali appears as a symbol of triumph over death.

 

BENGALI TRADITION

Kali is also a central figure in late medieval Bengali devotional literature, with such devotees as Ramprasad Sen (1718–75). With the exception of being associated with Parvati as Shiva's consort, Kāli is rarely pictured in Hindu legends and iconography as a motherly figure until Bengali devotions beginning in the early eighteenth century. Even in Bengāli tradition her appearance and habits change little, if at all.

 

The Tantric approach to Kāli is to display courage by confronting her on cremation grounds in the dead of night, despite her terrible appearance. In contrast, the Bengali devotee appropriates Kāli's teachings adopting the attitude of a child, coming to love her unreservedly. In both cases, the goal of the devotee is to become reconciled with death and to learn acceptance of the way that things are. These themes are well addressed in Rāmprasād's work. Rāmprasād comments in many of his other songs that Kāli is indifferent to his wellbeing, causes him to suffer, brings his worldly desires to nothing and his worldly goods to ruin. He also states that she does not behave like a mother should and that she ignores his pleas:

 

Can mercy be found in the heart of her who was born of the stone? [a reference to Kali as the daughter of Himalaya]

Were she not merciless, would she kick the breast of her lord?

Men call you merciful, but there is no trace of mercy in you, Mother.

You have cut off the heads of the children of others, and these you wear as a garland around your neck.

It matters not how much I call you "Mother, Mother." You hear me, but you will not listen.

 

To be a child of Kāli, Rāmprasād asserts, is to be denied of earthly delights and pleasures. Kāli is said to refrain from giving that which is expected. To the devotee, it is perhaps her very refusal to do so that enables her devotees to reflect on dimensions of themselves and of reality that go beyond the material world.

 

A significant portion of Bengali devotional music features Kāli as its central theme and is known as Shyama Sangeet ("Music of the Night"). Mostly sung by male vocalists, today even women have taken to this form of music. One of the finest singers of Shyāma Sāngeet is Pannalal Bhattacharya.

 

In Bengal, Kāli is venerated in the festival Kali Puja, the new moon day of Ashwin month which coincides with Diwali festival.

 

In a unique form of Kāli worship, Shantipur worships Kāli in the form of a hand painted image of the deity known as Poteshwari (meaning the deity drawn on a piece of cloth).

 

LEGENDS

SLAYER OF RAKTABIJA

In Kāli's most famous legend, Devi Durga (Adi Parashakti) and her assistants, the Matrikas, wound the demon Raktabija, in various ways and with a variety of weapons in an attempt to destroy him. They soon find that they have worsened the situation for with every drop of blood that is dripped from Raktabija he reproduces a clone of himself. The battlefield becomes increasingly filled with his duplicates. Durga, in need of help, summons Kāli to combat the demons. It is said, in some versions, that Goddess Durga actually assumes the form of Goddess Kāli at this time. The Devi Mahatmyam describes:

 

Out of the surface of her (Durga's) forehead, fierce with frown, issued suddenly Kali of terrible countenance, armed with a sword and noose. Bearing the strange khatvanga (skull-topped staff ), decorated with a garland of skulls, clad in a tiger's skin, very appalling owing to her emaciated flesh, with gaping mouth, fearful with her tongue lolling out, having deep reddish eyes, filling the regions of the sky with her roars, falling upon impetuously and slaughtering the great asuras in that army, she devoured those hordes of the foes of the devas.

 

Kali destroys Raktabija by sucking the blood from his body and putting the many Raktabija duplicates in her gaping mouth. Pleased with her victory, Kali then dances on the field of battle, stepping on the corpses of the slain. In the Devi Mahatmya version of this story, Kali is also described as a Matrika and as a Shakti or power of Devi. She is given the epithet Cāṃuṇḍā (Chamunda), i.e. the slayer of the demons Chanda and Munda. Chamunda is very often identified with Kali and is very much like her in appearance and habit.

 

DAKSHINA KALI

In her most famous pose as Daksinakali, popular legends say that Kali, becoming drunk on the blood of her victims on the battlefield, dances with destructive frenzy. She is about to destroy the whole universe when, urged by all the gods, Shiva lies in her way to stop her. In her fury, she fails to see the body of Shiva lying amongst the corpses on the battlefield and steps upon his chest. Realizing Shiva lies beneath her feet, her anger is pacified and she calms her fury. Though not included in any of the puranas, popular legends state that Kali was ashamed at the prospect of keeping her husband beneath her feet and thus stuck her tongue out in shame. The Devi-Bhagavata Purana, which goes into great depths about the goddess Kali, reveals the tongue's actual symbolism.

 

The characteristic icons that depict Kali are the following; unbridled matted hair, open blood shot eyes, open mouth and a drooping tongue; in her hands, she holds a Khadga (bent sword or scimitar) and a human head; she has a girdle of human hands across her waist and an enchanted Shiva lies beneath her feet. Each of these icons represent a deep philosophical epithet. The drooping out-stuck tongue represents her blood-thirst. Lord Shiva beneath her feet represents matter, as Kali is undoubtedly the primeval energy. The depiction of Kali on Shiva shows that without energy, matter lies "dead". This concept has been simplified to a folk-tale depicting a wife placing her foot on her husband and sticking her tongue out in shame. In tantric contexts, the tongue is seen to denote the element (guna) of rajas (energy and action) controlled by sattva.

 

If Kali steps on Shiva with her right foot and holds the sword in her left hand, she is considered to be Dakshina Kali. The Dakshina Kali Temple has important religious associations with the Jagannath Temple and it is believed that Daksinakali is the guardian of the kitchen of the Lord Jagannath Temple. Puranic tradition says that in Puri, Lord Jagannath is regarded as Daksinakalika. Goddess Dakshinakali plays an important role in the 'Niti' of Saptapuri Amavasya.

 

One South Indian tradition tells of a dance contest between Shiva and Kali. After defeating the two demons Sumbha and Nisumbha, Kali takes up residence in the forest of Thiruvalankadu or Thiruvalangadu. She terrorizes the surrounding area with her fierce, disruptive nature. One of Shiva's devotees becomes distracted while performing austerities, and asks Shiva to rid the forest of the destructive goddess. When Shiva arrives, Kali threatens him, claiming the territory as her own. Shiva challenges Kali to a dance contest; both of them dance and Kali matches Shiva in every step that he takes until Shiva takes the "Urdhvatandava" step, by vertically raising his right leg. Kali refuses to perform this step, which would not befit her as a woman, and became pacified.

 

SMASHAN KALI

If the Kali steps out with the left foot and holds the sword in her right hand, she is the terrible form of Mother, the Smashan Kali of the cremation ground. She is worshiped by tantrics, the followers of Tantra, who believe that one's spiritual discipline practiced in a smashan (cremation ground) brings success quickly. Sarda Devi, the consort of Ramakrishna Paramhansa, worshipped Smashan Kali at Dakshineshwar.

 

MATERNAL KALI

Another legend depicts the infant Shiva calming Kali. In this similar story, Kali has defeated her enemies on the battlefield and begun to dance out of control, drunk on the blood of the slain. To calm her down and to protect the stability of the world, Shiva is sent to the battlefield, as an infant, crying aloud. Seeing the child's distress, Kali ceases dancing to care for the helpless infant. She picks him up, kisses his head, and proceeds to breast feed the infant Shiva. This legend is notable because it shows Kali in her benevolent, maternal aspect, with which she is not usually identified.

 

MAHAKALI

Mahakali (Sanskrit: Mahākālī, Devanagari: महाकाली), literally translated as Great Kali, is sometimes considered as a greater form of Kali, identified with the Ultimate reality of Brahman. It can also be used as an honorific of the Goddess Kali, signifying her greatness by the prefix "Mahā-". Mahakali, in Sanskrit, is etymologically the feminized variant of Mahakala or Great Time (which is interpreted also as Death), an epithet of the God Shiva in Hinduism. Mahakali is the presiding Goddess of the first episode of the Devi Mahatmya. Here she is depicted as Devi in her universal form as Shakti. Here Devi serves as the agent who allows the cosmic order to be restored.

 

Kali is depicted in the Mahakali form as having ten heads, ten arms, and ten legs. Each of her ten hands is carrying a various implement which vary in different accounts, but each of these represent the power of one of the Devas or Hindu Gods and are often the identifying weapon or ritual item of a given Deva. The implication is that Mahakali subsumes and is responsible for the powers that these deities possess and this is in line with the interpretation that Mahakali is identical with Brahman. While not displaying ten heads, an "ekamukhi" or one headed image may be displayed with ten arms, signifying the same concept: the powers of the various Gods come only through Her grace.

 

ICONOGRAPHY

Kali is portrayed mostly in two forms: the popular four-armed form and the ten-armed Mahakali form. In both of her forms, she is described as being black in color but is most often depicted as blue in popular Indian art. Her eyes are described as red with intoxication, and in absolute rage, her hair is shown disheveled, small fangs sometimes protrude out of her mouth, and her tongue is lolling. She is often shown naked or just wearing a skirt made of human arms and a garland of human heads. She is also accompanied by serpents and a jackal while standing on a seemingly dead Shiva, usually right foot forward to symbolize the more popular Dakshinamarga or right-handed path, as opposed to the more infamous and transgressive Vamamarga or left-handed path.

 

In the ten-armed form of Mahakali she is depicted as shining like a blue stone. She has ten faces and ten feet and three eyes. She has ornaments decked on all her limbs. There is no association with Shiva.

 

The Kalika Purana describes Kali as possessing a soothing dark complexion, as perfectly beautiful, riding a lion, four-armed, holding a sword and blue lotuses, her hair unrestrained, body firm and youthful.

 

In spite of her seemingly terrible form, Kali Ma is often considered the kindest and most loving of all the Hindu goddesses, as she is regarded by her devotees as the Mother of the whole Universe. And because of her terrible form, she is also often seen as a great protector. When the Bengali saint Ramakrishna once asked a devotee why one would prefer to worship Mother over him, this devotee rhetorically replied, "Maharaj, when they are in trouble your devotees come running to you. But, where do you run when you are in trouble?"

 

According to Ramakrishna, darkness is the Ultimate Mother, or Kali:

 

My Mother is the principle of consciousness. She is Akhanda Satchidananda; indivisible Reality, Awareness, and Bliss. The night sky between the stars is perfectly black. The waters of the ocean depths are the same; The infinite is always mysteriously dark. This inebriating darkness is my beloved Kali.

 

SRI RAMAKRISHNA

This is clear in the works of such contemporary artists as Charles Wish, and Tyeb Mehta, who sometimes take great liberties with the traditional, accepted symbolism, but still demonstrate a true reverence for the Shakta sect.

 

POPULAR FORM

Classic depictions of Kali share several features, as follows:

 

Kali's most common four armed iconographic image shows each hand carrying variously a sword, a trishul (trident), a severed head and a bowl or skull-cup (kapala) catching the blood of the severed head.

 

Two of these hands (usually the left) are holding a sword and a severed head. The Sword signifies Divine Knowledge and the Human Head signifies human Ego which must be slain by Divine Knowledge in order to attain Moksha. The other two hands (usually the right) are in the abhaya (fearlessness) and varada (blessing) mudras, which means her initiated devotees (or anyone worshipping her with a true heart) will be saved as she will guide them here and in the hereafter.

 

She has a garland consisting of human heads, variously enumerated at 108 (an auspicious number in Hinduism and the number of countable beads on a Japa Mala or rosary for repetition of Mantras) or 51, which represents Varnamala or the Garland of letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, Devanagari. Hindus believe Sanskrit is a language of dynamism, and each of these letters represents a form of energy, or a form of Kali. Therefore she is generally seen as the mother of language, and all mantras.

 

She is often depicted naked which symbolizes her being beyond the covering of Maya since she is pure (nirguna) being-consciousness-bliss and far above prakriti. She is shown as very dark as she is brahman in its supreme unmanifest state. She has no permanent qualities - she will continue to exist even when the universe ends. It is therefore believed that the concepts of color, light, good, bad do not apply to her - she is the pure, un-manifested energy, the Adi-shakti.

 

SHIVA IN KALI ICONOGRAPHY

In both these images she is shown standing on the prone, inert or dead body of Shiva. There is a legend for the reason behind her standing on what appears to be Shiva's corpse, which translates as follows:

 

Once Kali had destroyed all the demons in battle, she began a terrific dance out of the sheer joy of victory. All the worlds or lokas began to tremble and sway under the impact of her dance. So, at the request of all the Gods, Shiva himself asked her to desist from this behavior. However, she was too intoxicated to listen. Hence, Shiva lay like a corpse among the slain demons in order to absorb the shock of the dance into himself. When Kali eventually stepped upon Shiva, she realized she was trampling and hurting her husband and bit her tongue in shame.

 

The story described here is a popular folk tale and not described or hinted in any of the puranas. The puranic interpretation is as follows:

 

Once, Parvati asks Shiva to chose the one form among her 10 forms which he likes most. To her surprise, Shiva reveals that he is most comfortable with her Kali form, in which she is bereft of her jewellery, her human-form, her clothes, her emotions and where she is only raw, chaotic energy, where she is as terrible as time itself and even greater than time. As Parvati takes the form of Kali, Shiva lies at her feet and requests her to place her foot on his chest, upon his heart. Once in this form, Shiva requests her to have this place, below her feet in her iconic image which would be worshiped throughout.

 

This idea has been explored in the Devi-Bhagavata Purana and is most popular in the Shyama Sangeet, devotional songs to Kali from the 12th to 15th centuries.

 

The Tantric interpretation of Kali standing on top of her husband is as follows:

 

The Shiv tattava (Divine Consciousness as Shiva) is inactive, while the Shakti tattava (Divine Energy as Kali) is active. Shiva and Kali represent Brahman, the Absolute pure consciousness which is beyond all names, forms and activities. Kali, on the other hand, represents the potential (and manifested) energy responsible for all names, forms and activities. She is his Shakti, or creative power, and is seen as the substance behind the entire content of all consciousness. She can never exist apart from Shiva or act independently of him, just as Shiva remains a mere corpse without Kali i.e., Shakti, all the matter/energy of the universe, is not distinct from Shiva, or Brahman, but is rather the dynamic power of Brahman. Hence, Kali is Para Brahman in the feminine and dynamic aspect while Shiva is the male aspect and static. She stands as the absolute basis for all life, energy and beneath her feet lies, Shiva, a metaphor for mass, which cannot retain its form without energy.

 

While this is an advanced concept in monistic Shaktism, it also agrees with the Nondual Trika philosophy of Kashmir, popularly known as Kashmir Shaivism and associated most famously with Abhinavagupta. There is a colloquial saying that "Shiva without Shakti is Shava" which means that without the power of action (Shakti) that is Mahakali (represented as the short "i" in Devanagari) Shiva (or consciousness itself) is inactive; Shava means corpse in Sanskrit and the play on words is that all Sanskrit consonants are assumed to be followed by a short letter "a" unless otherwise noted. The short letter "i" represents the female power or Shakti that activates Creation. This is often the explanation for why She is standing on Shiva, who is either Her husband and complement in Shaktism or the Supreme Godhead in Shaivism.

 

To properly understand this complex Tantric symbolism it is important to remember that the meaning behind Shiva and Kali does not stray from the non-dualistic parlance of Shankara or the Upanisads. According to both the Mahanirvana and Kularnava Tantras, there are two distinct ways of perceiving the same absolute reality. The first is a transcendental plane which is often described as static, yet infinite. It is here that there is no matter, there is no universe and only consciousness exists. This form of reality is known as Shiva, the absolute Sat-Chit-Ananda - existence, knowledge and bliss. The second is an active plane, an immanent plane, the plane of matter, of Maya, i.e., where the illusion of space-time and the appearance of an actual universe does exist. This form of reality is known as Kali or Shakti, and (in its entirety) is still specified as the same Absolute Sat-Chit-Ananda. It is here in this second plane that the universe (as we commonly know it) is experienced and is described by the Tantric seer as the play of Shakti, or God as Mother Kali.

 

From a Tantric perspective, when one meditates on reality at rest, as absolute pure consciousness (without the activities of creation, preservation or dissolution) one refers to this as Shiva or Brahman. When one meditates on reality as dynamic and creative, as the Absolute content of pure consciousness (with all the activities of creation, preservation or dissolution) one refers to it as Kali or Shakti. However, in either case the yogini or yogi is interested in one and the same reality - the only difference being in name and fluctuating aspects of appearance. It is this which is generally accepted as the meaning of Kali standing on the chest of Shiva.

 

Although there is often controversy surrounding the images of divine copulation, the general consensus is benign and free from any carnal impurities in its substance. In Tantra the human body is a symbol for the microcosm of the universe; therefore sexual process is responsible for the creation of the world. Although theoretically Shiva and Kali (or Shakti) are inseparable, like fire and its power to burn, in the case of creation they are often seen as having separate roles. With Shiva as male and Kali as female it is only by their union that creation may transpire. This reminds us of the prakrti and purusa doctrine of Samkhya wherein prakāśa- vimarśa has no practical value, just as without prakrti, purusa is quite inactive. This (once again) stresses the interdependencies of Shiva and Shakti and the vitality of their union.

 

Gopi Krishna proposed that Kali standing on the dead Shiva or Shava (Sanskrit for dead body) symbolised the helplessness of a person undergoing the changing process (psychologically and physiologically) in the body conducted by the Kundalini Shakti.

 

DEVELOPMENT

In the later traditions, Kali has become inextricably linked with Shiva. The unleashed form of Kali often becomes wild and uncontrollable, and only Shiva is able to tame her just as only Kali can tame Shiva. This is both because she is often a transformed version of one of his consorts and because he is able to match her wildness.

 

The ancient text of Kali Kautuvam describes her competition with Shiva in dance, from which the sacred 108 Karanas appeared. Shiva won the competition by acting the urdva tandava, one of the Karanas, by raising his feet to his head. Other texts describe Shiva appearing as a crying infant and appealing to her maternal instincts. While Shiva is said to be able to tame her, the iconography often presents her dancing on his fallen body, and there are accounts of the two of them dancing together, and driving each other to such wildness that the world comes close to unravelling.

 

Shiva's involvement with Tantra and Kali's dark nature have led to her becoming an important Tantric figure. To the Tantric worshippers, it was essential to face her Curse, the terror of death, as willingly as they accepted Blessings from her beautiful, nurturing, maternal aspect. For them, wisdom meant learning that no coin has only one side: as death cannot exist without life, so life cannot exist without death. Kali's role sometimes grew beyond that of a chaos - which could be confronted - to that of one who could bring wisdom, and she is given great metaphysical significance by some Tantric texts. The Nirvāna-tantra clearly presents her uncontrolled nature as the Ultimate Reality, claiming that the trimurti of Brahma, Vishnu and Rudra arise and disappear from her like bubbles from the sea. Although this is an extreme case, the Yogini-tantra, Kamakhya-tantra and the Niruttara-tantra declare her the svarupa (own-being) of the Mahadevi (the great Goddess, who is in this case seen as the combination of all devis).

 

The final stage of development is the worshipping of Kali as the Great Mother, devoid of her usual violence. This practice is a break from the more traditional depictions. The pioneers of this tradition are the 18th century Shakta poets such as Ramprasad Sen, who show an awareness of Kali's ambivalent nature. Ramakrishna, the 19th century Bengali saint, was also a great devotee of Kali; the western popularity of whom may have contributed to the more modern, equivocal interpretations of this Goddess. Rachel McDermott's work, however, suggests that for the common, modern worshipper, Kali is not seen as fearful, and only those educated in old traditions see her as having a wrathful component. Some credit to the development of Devi must also be given to Samkhya. Commonly referred to as the Devi of delusion, Mahamaya or Durga, acting in the confines of (but not being bound by) the nature of the three gunas, takes three forms: Maha-Kali, Maha-Lakshmi and Maha-Saraswati, being her tamas-ika, rajas-ika and sattva-ika forms. In this sense, Kali is simply part of a larger whole.

 

Like Sir John Woodroffe and Georg Feuerstein, many Tantric scholars (as well as sincere practitioners) agree that, no matter how propitious or appalling you describe them, Shiva and Devi are simply recognizable symbols for everyday, abstract (yet tangible) concepts such as perception, knowledge, space-time, causation and the process of liberating oneself from the confines of such things. Shiva, symbolizing pure, absolute consciousness, and Devi, symbolizing the entire content of that consciousness, are ultimately one and the same - totality incarnate, a micro-macro-cosmic amalgamation of all subjects, all objects and all phenomenal relations between the "two." Like man and woman who both share many common, human traits yet at the same time they are still different and, therefore, may also be seen as complementary.

 

Worshippers prescribe various benign and horrific qualities to Devi simply out of practicality. They do this so they may have a variety of symbols to choose from, symbols which they can identify and relate with from the perspective of their own, ever-changing time, place and personal level of unfolding. Just like modern chemists or physicists use a variety of molecular and atomic models to describe what is unperceivable through rudimentary, sensory input, the scientists of ontology and epistemology must do the same. One of the underlying distinctions of Tantra, in comparison to other religions, is that it allows the devotee the liberty to choose from a vast array of complementary symbols and rhetoric which suit one's evolving needs and tastes. From an aesthetic standpoint, nothing is interdict and nothing is orthodox. In this sense, the projection of some of Devi's more gentle qualities onto Kali is not sacrilege and the development of Kali really lies in the practitioner, not the murthi.

 

A TIME magazine article of October 27, 1947, used Kali as a symbol and metaphor for the human suffering in British India during its partition that year.

 

Swami Vivekananda wrote his favorite poem Kali the Mother in 1898.

 

IN NEW AGE & NEOPAGANISM

An academic study of Western Kali enthusiasts noted that, "as shown in the histories of all cross-cultural religious transplants, Kali devotionalism in the West must take on its own indigenous forms if it is to adapt to its new environment." The adoption of Kali by the West has raised accusations of cultural appropriation:

 

A variety of writers and thinkers have found Kali an exciting figure for reflection and exploration, notably feminists and participants in New Age spirituality who are attracted to goddess worship. Kali is a symbol of wholeness and healing, associated especially with repressed female power and sexuality. [However, such interpretations often exhibit] confusion and misrepresentation, stemming from a lack of knowledge of Hindu history among these authors, draw upon materials written by scholars of the Hindu religious tradition. The majority instead rely chiefly on other popular feminist sources, almost none of which base their interpretations on a close reading of Kali's Indian background. The most important issue arising from this discussion - even more important than the question of 'correct' interpretation - concerns the adoption of other people's religious symbols. It is hard to import the worship of a goddess from another culture: religious associations and connotations have to be learned, imagined or intuited when the deep symbolic meanings embedded in the native culture are not available.

 

WIKIPEDIA

BOX DATE: 1993

MANUFACTURER: Mattel

IMPORTANT NOTES: My set is missing the shelf backing.

 

PERSONAL FUN FACT written by my sister: It was love at first sight! When Shelly approached a container of doll furniture on what began as an unlucky day at the flea market, the first thing I saw was the cardboard part of this grocery store! The second thing I took in was, of course, the 1995 Barbie Mini Van. The combination of my nostalgic longing for this 90s Barbie grocery store and fierce desire to possess that unusual but captivating vehicle made me want the container instantly, even though we typically gravitate toward dolls and clothes, not larger playsets. I figured, in that moment, that I needed the bin to be really cheap--like five bucks--to be worth our while. Otherwise, it wasn't something we'd normally go for. However, the seller told us it was thirty dollars! My hopes sank. They rose again when he told us there was a container of dolls and another mystery box beneath that that went along with it. Before we had a long time to assess the dolls (less than three minutes), he dropped the price down to twenty and Shelly said she was going to the ATM. Sold! We were both curious and nostalgic for these 90s items and, while we'd normally be more excited about the dolls, the playsets were this bins claim to fame. If not for the mold, the "Oldie Moldies" bin (July 2019) would have likely had another name, related to the abundance of playsets. I'm glad that what was left of this child's stash was kept together. A lot of things that went together were scattered in both bins. As we went through it, two things became clear: 1) it was biohazardous 2) It was one of the largest hauls we'd gotten in a while . Normally, I rank a bin's "size" on the number of dolls. However, this bin had an abundance of stuff--playsets and accessories. As we went through and found more plastic accessories in car trunks and the storage space on this store, we couldn't believe how much we'd actually gotten for our money! All laid out, it was insane. Of course, it also stank of mold. Therefore, we had to prioritize. On day one, our focus was getting the smelly mold off the dolls and soaking the clothing and small accessories. It wasn't until day two that Shelly wiped down the plastic furniture pieces while I was at work and started piecing it all together. However, while things were soaking and she was trying to figure out who the dolls were, pulling them out of the bleach soak occasionally to look at a face, I tried to salvage all the cardboard items I could by wiping them down with rubbing alcohol. The cardboard item here, the very one that drew me in, was the most challenging to wipe down. But it was worth it! I originally wanted this set because it looked so similar in style to the 1993 Mini Mart that Steve, a family friend, gave us many years ago and our first ever Barbie grocery store, the So Much to Do! Supermarket. The register is really cool. I like that there is a way to slide it down. The styling of the Barbie logo and cardboard piece are so adorable and remind me of my childhood. I love the convenience, realism, and practicality of the magazine rack and the plastic piece on the end where you can bag. It is so similar to So Much to Do! I'm glad we got the carriage. A lot of our Barbie carriages have broken over the years. The shelf may be my favorite component. It's size is practical and, while it's missing the cardboard, it'll be fine with our grocery store themed backdrop! I love the purple accents on the top and how it has a place for storage. It reminds me of how we would use my ancient Barbie caboodle as a grocery store display AND storage unit for our dolly food. I like this set for so many reasons.

Now amazing Capture One pro 10 is out, and for Sony users the express version is free.

The Capture One 9.4 before it was simply outstanding RAWC, much better than anything from Adobe or Raw Therapy.

 

Unfortunately, the free version of C1 does not handle Canon, Nikon or Olympus RAW, only Sony or DNG(Pentax and Leica).

 

So I guess It is another big reason for many of us to choose Sony over anything else. If you use Sony, you can get a full copy of Capture One pro 10 for just 50 USD.

AS far as I am concerned, this is an incredible deal, great Christmas gift for us from Phase One, the greatest company in Photography ever.

 

I think both Capture One 10 Pro and DXO 11 produce a bit better color than LR CC or LR6 for Sony, Canon,Olympus, or Nikon.

 

I suspect that Adobe programs are optimized for Canon but even for Canon CR2 files, LR6 and CC are not good enough, never produce the amazing amount details that Capture One 10 or DXO 11 does.

 

Seriously C Oen 10 pro for just 50 US is an amazing deal. nothing beats it for that price.

Capture One 10 is a much better more serious program than the LR crapware, and the biggest deal here is not need to deal with the Adobe subscription stuff. Many many Adobe users used the license and repaid it to re-activate it, it is really terribly unstable. I had one time could not use it when I was editing my images on site in a mountain area and they say my account is just trial although I paid it for full CC version.

So after coming back from the mountain, I decided to cancel all Adobe CC crap, and I just got Capture One express 8.32 for Sony free,then later in the same month (last April)I upgraded it to the pro version. I could not be happier.

Now, also DXO is offering me a copy FULL copy of DXO 11 Pro version for just 99 USD. I will get that too.

Honestly, there are still times we need Photoshop but I do have full copy of CS6, so I do not need CC anymore, and I've found life without Adobe CC crap is really much more relaxing and easier.

So in the long run, may Sony E mount be the most expensive system out side of the Leica SL and MFDBs arena?

 

Well it seems like that considering terribly expensive Sony service charge and repair price, and of course their lens prices.

 

As far as lenses are concerned, I can only compare the lenses that have been tested scientifically. Now please keep in mind that these tests were done with the A7R not version 2, but when Nikon introduces their higher resolution camera this will increase the final numbers for Nikon system as well, and Canon already have even higher resolution camera than both Nikon and Sony, but oddly enough DXO and most of others refuse to use the high resolution Canon body for testing their new gen lenses.

Sony 35 2.8, Nikon 35 1.8, Canon 35 2.0 tested with A7R, D810, 5DIII, oddly DXO refuses to test Canon lenses on the 5DS.

Anyway though,the Sony Costs $800, Nikon Costs $600, despite the Sony having less resolving power and a full stop slower than the Nikon. So we see how expensive Sony system actually is already here at the very first comparison below.

www.dxomark.com/Lenses/Compare/Side-by-side/Nikon-AF-S-NI...

To be fair to Sony, there is also the Loxia 35 mm f2,which I recently sold off for some new macro lens for my Olympus. The Loxia 35 is a fairly good lens but not an amazing lens, not exceptionally sharp, not extremely well corrected either. It has a bit of serious coma issue at f2 and on, though it is still a better lens than the Sony 35 mm f2.8 in the areas of center resolution and longitudinal CA and Vignetting. But the Loxia is worse than the Sony 35 mm f2.8 in some significant areas such as coma, edge/corner sharpness and focus accuracy at infinity.

So in Sony 35 mm Full frame world , there is no value 35 mm prime at all.

Now move on to value 28 mm primes: Sony 28 2.0, Nikon 28 1.8, Canon 28 2.8, they are close enough to say the difference is irrelevant in real life use.

www.dxomark.com/Lenses/Compare/Side-by-side/Sony-FE-28mm-...

 

So move on to 70-200 mm f4: Of Sony 70-200 f4, Nikon 70-200 f4, Canon 70-200 f4, the Sony again is the most expensive despite the Nikon having more resolving power if we are to trust DXO lens rating. I personally do not trust their lens tests although I trust their sensor tests and I think their sensor test results pretty much mirror my own findings quite often.

But in case of the 70-200 mm f4 lenses, many other sites like SLRgear, lenstip tested and came to the same or identical conclusion to the DXO comparison. I also tested them at my work place with my own copy of DXO analyzer and got the same results.

If I have to pick the winner here, I would pick the Nikon for its obviously better resolution at 200 mm f4 setting. But it is more complicated than just optical quality, since the latest generation body IS of Sony is much more effective than most of in-lens VR or IS I tested.

So, while the Nikon is a bit better lens optically, I doubt that in real life handheld photography we see the better resolving power of the Nikon. The Sony 70-200 mm f4 comes with an excellent tripod collar that would cost 120 US if we buy it separately. Canon and Nikon do not include a tripod collar in their respective 70-200 mm f4 shipping package.

So maybe, is the pricing of the Sony actually reasonable?

www.dxomark.com/Lenses/Compare/Side-by-side/Sony-FE-70-20...

 

Now move on to 35 mm f1.4 lenses comparison:Sony 35 1.4, Nikon 35 1.4. Interestingly in this test the Sony did a little better in resolution to the Nikon although its 22mm longer and 30 grams heavier than the Nikon and 26mm longer and 50 grams heavier than the Canon, so not so compact for a compact system any more.

What this fact tells us about is if you ask ultimate resolution in any current FF system, regardless of your camera body size, your lens must be big and heavy, thus your system won't be small or cheap or light at all.

 

www.dxomark.com/Lenses/Compare/Side-by-side/Sony-FE-Carl-...

But in case of this 35 mm f1.4, we have to consider the extremely bad copy to copy sample variation issue of the Sony. The biggest issue of the DXO and the other typical online lens test sites is that they test only one copy supplied by the company.

But there is a great man testing literally 10-100 of copies of each lens and reporting his results most of times.

www.lensrentals.com/blog/2015/10/sony-e-mount-lens-sharpn...

 

Personally, I take Roger's opinion much more seriously than any other lens test site's so-called review. I work at a mall which also sell cameras and I have tested many returned lenses before sending them back to the respective manufactures, we found that the copy to copy variation is much more significant than many people online think, it is sometimes even more pronounced than lens A to lens B difference.

So testing one copy of each lens is not enough, definitely in the case of any super complex modern optics such as this FE 35 mm f1.4.

I know the best copies of it is a fantastic lens, but about 75 percent of times you get a bad one or just an ok kind of one. It is really really deplorable, sad.

But no one so-called review site besides Roger's report it, and I smell something very fishy here.

 

Now move on to 50 mm -55 mm value primes: the Sony 55 1.8 vs the Nikon 50 1.8 vs the

Canon 50 1.8 STM

 

The Sony beats out the Nikon and obviously the Canon because of the limited megapixels, but the interesting thing is when you compare pricing...$1000 for the Sony, $219 for the Nikon. Weight was another thing with the Sony coming in at almost 100 grams heavier than the Nikon and the Canon. In terms of Absolute resolution, the Sony is quite a bit better, though if you care about the money, then the cheap Nikon gets you about 90 percent of the expensive Sony performance at 1/ 5th of the Sony price.

 

www.dxomark.com/Lenses/Compare/Side-by-side/Sony-FE-Carl-...

 

now finally move on to 90-105 mm macro lens:

The Sony 90 mm macro is reported to be a better lens by likes of DXOmark, but according to Roger Cicala's extensive optics bench testing with many many copies of it, it is not as good as we all once thought it must be because of the DXO result for it below.

www.dxomark.com/Lenses/Compare/Side-by-side/Sony-FE-90mm-...

But it is obvious if you get a good copy of the Sony FE 90 mm f2.8 G lens, it is sharper than anything else in the market, actually it even beats the over-sized over priced not much useful awkward brand lenses like the Zess Otus 85 mm f1.4 APO or the Zeiss 135 mm f2 APO Sonnar,which I sold as soon as I found it useless in real life application ,especially for travel photography and street work. I loved it for studio work, but for that use I do not need to actually own any lens, just rent it from my boss's studio.

Anyway, my point here is if you get a decent Sony Fe 90 or 55 mm then it even beats the super-heavy ,awkward no compromise in design kind of d-SLR lens that priced about 4 times more than the Sony lenses.

The 90 macro is a cheap lens for what it is, there is no comparison to that lens in that relatively modest range of it.

 

So while I agree that Sony has made some very positive moves in recent years,it has come at a cost in pricing, f/stop and in the compactness to the system.Even then, the Sony lenses are not necessarily the best, especially when you take the fact that the Nikon/Canon Lenses often out resolved the Sony equivalents with faster f/stops for less money into serious consideration. The Canon lenses were at a deficit due to megapixels, and even with the obvious sensor resolution disadvantage, quite a few Canon lenses actually still out-resolve Sony Nikon equivalents, it was,to me,quite amazing.

So, I think if you need the ultimate best for now or the absolute best, most promising tech into foreseeable future, then the Sony system makes real sense here, but if you just need 90 percent of what the A7RM2 can do at the 1/4 of the Sony system price, then Nikon still makes better sense(value).

In my area it is even more glaringly clear, the A7RM2 body alone costs about 378000 yen, the Nikon D810 kit with the AF-S24-120 mm f4 VR costs 321000 yen,the Sony does not seem to be a great value although it may well be the absolute best camera in current camera market.

And most of people just go with the almost 95 percent as good as the absolute best kind of system that costs much less than the absolute best.

I chose the Zeiss Batis 85 over the Zeiss Otus 85 although I knew the Otus would beat the Batis in resolution(at a lab)..........but for me the much more manageable size and the weight saving, and more importantly the better overall practicality/usability of the Batis beat the absolute tripod resolution of the Otus. I think the same logic applies for choosing the right camera system.

Although, IMO, Canon still has the edge in lens line, flash,etc, and as a company most stable and profitable with a lot of key-core patents in this ILC technology, I personally never consider any of current Canon cameras seriously. The 5DS is just simply too overpriced, the 6D is just too long in the tooth, the 5D3 is about to be replaced, so no current Canon cameras make great value.

The 5DS-R costs 2 times more than the D810 and I think it is just too crazy, and that makes it absolutely the worst value camera for me. The 5DS at least a bit cheaper than the A7R2 to really justify its market position since it does not have the IBIS of the Sony, the 4k capability of the Sony, the high ISO performance of the Sony.

In the end, after comparing the prices of the lenses I need for the 3 systems carefully, I kind of realize that it is most logical to just stay with my current Sony system, just because I already have it. I guess I will hold on to my A7, A7M2, A7R for as long as I can, and see if Canon, Fuji or Samsung will answer to the a7R2.

The above logic just works for me, but I think for more budget minded people the Nikon may still hold the value king title with the D750..

The D750 is really attractive for event photography on a tight budget, and it is very very cheap now in the many many areas of the world, especially in my area.The Nikon D750 or D810 based system is at least 30 percent cheaper than the A7M2 or the A7RM2 based system with a few primes and a couple of zooms. But if you are a kind of person always wanting to shoot with a Otus or similar IQ lens and always carefully manually focus it, then Sony would suddenly become a much more logical choice for you.

The FE 55 mm f1.8 is sharper than the Otus 55 mm f1.4 at 1/4 of the Otus weight.

I do not have problem paying the Otus price for a great lens but the weight is.

The Sony FE 90 mm f2.8 G (assuming you get a decent copy) beats the both Otus and Batis in resolution and a few more areas.

I know the greater resolution alone does not make it a better lens than the Otus since Otus beats in the areas of CA, distortion and coma at wide open,etc.

But to me the better resolution of the Sony at 1/3 or the weight of Otus is very attractive.

The Batis 85 mm f1.8 is a great lens, honestly it is a bit different kind of lens than the Otus is with a bit more CA, a bit more distortion,etc, but it has the unique Zeiss look as with the other great Zeiss primes, and it is definitely sharp enough for its obvious intended use.

For landscape type of corner to corner sharpness, it may not be able to match the best primes in that focal range such as the FE90 mm f2.8 G , the Otus 85 mm f1.4 and the Leica 90 mm f3.5 APO, but still it handily beats all zooms and most of primes ever made in that specific focal range.

Many people compare the Batis 85 mm to the Nikon AF-S85 mm f1.8 G just because they both share f1.8 f numbers, but are they really comparable in quality?

Actually, in terms of sheer resolution and optical quality the cheap plastic Nikon may be comparable to the Batis. But it is weaker in a few key areas compared to the Batis.

The Nikon has much worse Lo-CA, much worse weaker flare resistance, a bit more distorted.

But the Nikon is smaller, lighter comes with 62 mm filter thread rather than the big 67 mm one on the Batis, it has a bit lower distortion and seems to have a bit lower amount of light fall off.

So it is actually closer match than we once thought it would be, and I see many many people mostly shooting all AF prefer the Nikon over the Zeiss in this case.

But unfortunately for me, the Batis is a better looking lens for my type of shooting since I am a manual focus kind of person, seldom use AF and having good MF ring is very important to me. So as my old man always said when I was a kid, it is always horses for courses, there is no one absolutely better camera system for all of us.

 

Finally as a side note, many many people guessing a lot of the technology inside the Leica SL seems to be from Panasonic.

I think Leica/Panasonic are testing the waters, with their first FF CSC with modern design more sophisticated UI than that of the Sony A7X.

I wouldn't be surprised, if less than a year from now, Panasonic makes a shot directly at Sony A7 series with a cheaper and more practical version of the Leica SL.

If Canon and Nikon don't come up with competitors in the meantime, Sony-Panasonic will be pushing this market very hard very far so that the old leaders will find themselves 7 laps behind all of a sudden. It may be easy for Canon to come up with something similar since they have all the tech needed to make something similar to the Leica SL, but is Nikon still safe, some how able to manage it to survive?

I know many Japanese Mega camera dealers that think in a matter of a several years Nikon won't be around in this market.

If they are correct, I wonder if the new Tokyo Nikon camera museum was actually built by Nikon as their own camera indoor cemetery?

 

UPdate : now, Canon has just announced its new sensor development policy. Canon seems to have built a new sensor plant in Mie prefecture of Japan. It seems like Canon is going on new 65nm process rule and all upcoming Canon sensors will be produced at there.

I think the 1DX2 and the 80D sensors are processed at the new plant.

Sony is still leading the CMOS imaging industry, but giants like Samsung are in close pursuit. Also big players like Panasonic are forming joint ventures with the likes of TowerJazz to offer 12-inch wafer fabrication with state-of-the-art quantum efficiency and dark current performance at 65 nano meters, and additional 45nm digital technology, and added available capacity of approximately 800,000 8-inch wafers per year in three manufacturing plants in Japan, according to TowerJazz.

 

The stakes are huge. The CMOS image sensor market will reached the historic $10 billion milestone in 2015, according to Yale, and with new applications popping up in automotive, medical and surveillance, while smartphones begin adopting high-definition front facing cameras, the industry is likely to hit the $16 billion mark by 2020. So nobody is just sleeping and Sony has to consolidate its position ASAP, or probably Sony will lose it again just like its short-lived TV business.

 

UPDATE2:Another serious issue all the camera makers will have to face but I did not really realize before is that all ILC cameras are big to most of NORMAL non-photographer people, and they are very intimidating to most of NORMAL people(I mean regardless of mount type or sensor type).

I never realized it before but while walking around down town Fukuoka with one of my long time friends here forced me to understand it. A friend of mine told me that he thinks all interchangeable lens cameras are huge and intimidating to most of average people regardless of sensor size or format, it's just simply annoying!

I guess a big lens scares or annoys people more than a big body......I never saw it his way but I got his point and I decided to carry my tiny Canon G5X when I just walk around the city area with other people. If I am alone shooting something, then I usually carry my big camera, and I think it does not matter it's a m43, a FF, an APS-C, it is all big to most of NORMAL people, anyway.

Then why not just go all the way up to FF or MFDB, or at least APS-C?

 

So maybe the one really doomed is not Nikon F or Pentax K or Sony A but m43?

Nikon and Pentax have historically had very enthusiastic and even fanatic core shooters and they are usually too old to adapt themselves fast to new EVF based gear even if they understand it is the more logical thing for them as they are aged. So D-SLRs may survive as antique cameras, but m43 or Nikon One?

 

UPDATE3: Nikon has just announced a new sensor fab development with Toshiba and it seems like their new sensor design uses very similar AF tech to the DP AF of the Canon EOS M5 sensor without losing almost no amount of light getting into the sensor.

 

Canon also patented a few new curved sensor designs with Toshiba. Toshiba seems to work as a special sensor designer for many companies rather than producing it themselves now.

 

And it found out that the Sony's old curved sensor patent is no longer effective, and it was originally a Toshiba patent.

So if Sony really lost the patent to Toshiba , then Sony would have a big problem since Sony would not be able to use the curved sensor tech for their FF camera lines that helps them to design smaller and sharper lenses for the FE system.

 

UPDATE4: Now, I've just confirmed that Nikon DL series actual shipment date would be next January 17th as planned in last Nikon conference at Nikon D5600 launch. But it may delay even further to next CP+ show in Yokohama Japan(in Feb 2017).

 

So it is already promised to be a failed product line before the actual launch. I think Nikon is really stupid, I mean I don't think phones or mirrorless killing Nikon but itself, it obtuse marketing killing it.

 

Coachwork by Allemano

Chassis n° B53 1008

 

Les Grandes Marques du Monde au Grand Palais

Bonhams

Estimated : € 130.000 - 160.000

Sold for € 132.250

 

Parijs - Paris

Frankrijk - France

February 2018

 

- Landmark Lancia model

- Rare coachbuilt variant

- One of few survivors

- Offered from a museum collection

 

One of the most influential designs to emerge from Italy post-WW2, the classic Aurelia was the first car ever to employ a V6 engine. Launched at the 1950 Turin Motor Show, the original B10 saloon was joined the following year by the landmark, Pinin Farina-styled B20 Coupé, a fastback '2+2' on a shortened wheelbase which, with its combination of sports car performance and saloon car practicality, can be said to have introduced the Gran Turismo concept to the world.

 

Models with longer wheelbases and larger engines in various states of tune followed, while to cater for independent coachbuilders Lancia produced a platform chassis, designated B50 or B51 (with different gearing/tyres) and powered by the standard 1.754 cc 56bhp V6 engine. With the announcement of the B20 Coupé, a 2.000 cc engine was introduced, which was also made available for the platform chassis, designated B52 or B53 (again depending on gearing/tyres).

 

It is estimated that fewer than 90 B53 chassis were produced, the Allemano-bodied example offered here having been created for the 1953 Turin Motor Show. Carrozzeria Allemano had been founded in Turin in 1928 by Serafino Allemano, specialising at first in the repair of cars before switching exclusively to design work in the mid-1930s. This Aurelia coupé is the work of its then resident stylist, Giovanni Michelotti. Born in Turin in 1921, Michelotti worked for a number of prominent carrozzeria, most notably Vignale where he was chief designer, before opening his own design studio. Restrained yet elegant, the two-door, four-seater body boasts aluminium doors and bonnet, making the car lighter and more responsive, while the twin horizontal air intakes flanking the grille give it a particularly striking frontal aspect.

 

The current vendor purchased the Lancia at auction in 2011, prior to this in 2009 it was offered from the collection belonging to Mr Edgar Schermerhorn and described as 'a total restoration of a highly original car'. Since acquisition, the Aurelia has formed part of a museum collection in Turkey and is described by the vendor as in generally very good condition, well maintained and running smoothly. Accompanying documentation consists of a copy of an old State of California Certificate of Title and a valid technical inspection document.

 

Very few of these Lancia Aurelia B53 coupés were constructed, and even fewer have survived, making this example an ideal candidate either for continental touring or Concours d'Élégance events where it will surely be enthusiastically welcomed. Rare and desirable, this coachbuilt Lancia represents a wonderful opportunity for the discerning collector and is worthy of the closest inspection.

The design of this starfighter is centered more upon beauty and aesthetic shaping rather than practicality. Thus, it has no guns or weapons, but its sleek shape does make it ideal for speed and racing competitions.

These 3 lens are in my collection at the time of posting. I have done a bit of searching on the internet to bring you some information on each of them.

 

Updated 24th June 2020

This is about three Nikon lenses: Nikon 35-~200mm, Nikon 35~135mm and the Nikon 35~105mm.

 

Zoom-Nikkor 35-105mm f/3.5~4.5s MACRO

Introduced in January 1983. There are a few interesting features relates to this compact Nikkor zoom lens. First, it adopts a pull and slide zoom design; next, the zoom range covers a very good focal length from 35mm wide-angle to medium telephoto range at 105mm.It was also the first* Ai-Spec production Nikkor zoom lens that used a variable lens speed (35 mm at f/3.5 to f/4.5 at the other end of 105mm). Other technical highlights include are: the lens has a native Ai-S lens coupling system but still offers a meter coupling prong in order older non-Ai Nikon bodies be still able to be used at stopped down metering mode. At the 35 mm setting, a macro-focus feature is provided which permits the lens to be focused down to 10.6 in. (0.27m). At this setting, 1:4 life size reproduction ratio can be achieved. The lens has quite a colourful appearance as a orange coloured macro-focus stripe was engraved on the distance scales. The basic design philosophy of this lens paths the way for many other Nikkor zoom lenses that followed at later years replicating in a similar fashion.

 

The radical change in the design of zoom/focusing control saw FIVE out of SEVEN** Nikkor zoom lenses introduced between 1983 -1985 adopted a similar design in single pull and push control and FOUR out of seven units using a variable lens speeds design to maintain compactness and lightweight.

 

This zoom was very popular lens among users. Probably it was the first time Nikon managed to offer a good zoom range from wide-angle to its popular telephoto range of 105mm with close-range focus capability. One reasons that contributed to its popularity was also due to lack of adequate product knowledge what the "variable lens speed" feature it offers. However, although most people were being lure in with the overall good features the lens offers but the variable lens speed (it provides a reasonably bright f/3.5 at 35mm setting but gradually stopped down to a dimmer f/4.5 when reaches 105mm) did raised some negative reaction from many seasoned users to see the effectiveness and practicality of it. So this lens has remained as a good zoom lens which offers basic features to take photographs but rarely attracts professional users to pay much attention to it. Whatever it is, the introduction at the time was timely as prevailing trend during this period was leaning towards smaller, lighter zoom lenses and lenses with variable lens speed was the only solution to meet such marketing objective.

 

If you can live with a f-stop slower maximum aperture, slight heavier in weight (510g as compared to a fixed Nikkor 105mm f/2.5s' s 435g) — despite it embodies a massively complex 16 elements in 12 groups optical construction as compared to a simple 5 elements in 4 groups design used in the Nikkor 105mm telephoto; in exchange you have the flexibility of controlling focal length from 35mm to 105mm and close focus to 10.6" with 1:4 reproduction (105mm closest focusing is 3.5ft with 1:7.69). Best of all — this lovely Nikkor zoom still uses standard 52mm filters!

 

At 1:4 life size reproduction, the macro-focus's setting was impressive but a drawback was in its less appealing 35mm setting (the Zoom-Nikkor 35-135mm f/3.5~4.5s MACRO introduced a year later has chosen a better 135mm focal length setting for its macro-focus feature) which can be quite restrictive as a true close focus lens due to distortion at close focus. I would rather see Nikon reverts it back to 105mm to provide more working distance as well as maintaining a more natural perspective for close-up photography. As compared with the later MF Zoom-Nikkor 35-70mm f/3.3~4.5s MACRO which often used to package as standard zoom for many entry level Nikon SLRs, this lens serves better value and purpose to a new SLR user with its extended zoom range but Nikon preferred it to be a standalone optional MF zoom lens.

  

Zoom-Nikkor 35-135mm f/3.5~4.5s

After the encouraging attempt with the fixed aperture MF Zoom-Nikkor 50-135mm f/3.5s MACRO in late 1982; Nikon next few versions of the wide-to-tele zoom lenses which began with the MF Zoom-Nikkor 35-105mm f/3.5~f/4.5s MACRO of 1983 started to offer with a variable apertures. The Nikkor lens development program also seeing the zoom range of Nikkor zoom slowly extended to a longer focal length from wide-angle and in late 1985, eventually we saw the realisation of the MF Zoom-Nikkor 35-200mm f/3.5~f/4.5s MACRO. Mid between 1983 and 1985 Nikon merged the two earlier zooms (50-135mm and 35-105mm) into a single Zoom-Nikkor 35-135mm f/3.5~f/4.5s which path the way in realising a "dreamed focal length" of 35-200mm introduced a year later in December 1985. As you can notice, most Nikkor zoom lenses introduced during this period were providing a popular macro-focus function around a reproduction ratio of 1:4 to compete with rival brands. Naturally, the inclusion of the macro-focus feature in these zooms has complicated their design and lenses with 15-17 lens elements within are not uncommon.

 

Among the few available options, the Zoom-Nikkor 35-135mm f/3.5!f/4.5s MACRO, which has a very practical zoom range to cover from standard wide-angle to popular medium telephoto focal length at 135mm was an immense popular choice among many Nikon photographers. Despite Nikon also offered a similar AF counterpart which started marketing along the MF zoom in 1986, this MF zoom lens has remained in production until 1989.

 

With an angle of view from 62° (35mm) to 18°(135mm), this 3.8X zoom lens also adopted a single sliding zoom/focusing ring design and a macro-focus feature which seemed like the universal zoom design among many Nikkor zooms introduced around this period of time. The "compromised" decision to adopt a variable maximum aperture design which ranges from f/3.5 (at 35mm) to f/4.5 (at 135mm) has enabled the lens to offer both reasonably compact physical dimension and lightweight (600g) in order to facilitate easier handheld shooting. Considering the lens has a larger 62mm filter attachment size and embody a 15 elements in 14 group design, I thought Nikon had done commendable work in keeping a good balance between performance and portability. This Ai-S native Nikkor zoom can helical close focus down to 1.5m (4.9ft) and with additional macro-focus capability to focus even closer down to 0.4m (1.3ft). At this distance, a reproduction ratio of 1:3.8 can be reached with focal length set to 135mm. Yes, this lens finally offered its macro-focus at the longer end of its zoom range at 135mm which is friendlier in natural perspective for close-up photography.

This is a very well made Nikkor zoom and has a good distribution of weight across its length. The lens has a well illustrated depth of field indicative lines printed in orange and blue (f/22 and f/11) on the lens barrel with another infrared indexing line in red (although I would prefer to see more DOF indicators of apertures be provided on the lens to supplement the great ratio of 1:3.8 provides by the macro-focus function). Focal lengths are marked in 35mm(green), 50mm (white), 85mm (white), 105mm (white) and 135mm(orange). There are also two indexes in orange and green engraved at the lens mounting ring for the respective 35mm and 135mm focal length which a new user of these variable lens speed Nikkor zoom may sometimes got confused (anyway, other similar Nikkor zoom lenses also have this feature). From a Y2K user to look at these older MF zoom lenses, a good gesture these lenses provide is the meter coupling prong on the aperture ring, older non-Ai Nikon bodies may still be able to use them in stopped down metering.

 

"Nikon Zoom NIKKOR 35-135mm F3.5-4.6 Ai-S manual focus lens. A nice lightweight and convenient mid zoom lens that is great for general purpose work. The lens is a 1 touch zoom with the focus ring and zoom all being in one! The cosmetic condition of the barrel is very nice with just a mark on the front ring, nothing major and obviously no effect on the picture taking. The zoom control has no sloppiness to it. The lens is also supplied with the original Nikon front and rear caps, Tiffen 81a filter as well as being in the original box with instructions for it. Filter size is 62mm. The lens also features a macro setting at 135mm. Made in Japan.”

 

This Zoom Nikkor 35-135mm f/3.5~4.5s MACRO lens has an AF counterpart introduced in September 1986 with an overall improvement as compared with the MF version but the AF lens uses a dual rings design as opposed to a sliding zoom method used in the MF version. The AF zoom close focuses at slightly further away at 1.5m but its Macrofocus distance is still retained at a close distance of 0.4m, however, Nikon managed to improve the reproduction ratio to 1:3.5 which obviously attributed from a revised optical formula in a new 15 lens elements in 12 groups optical construction. A further revision that followed saw a newer design in 1990 which Nikon reverted back to a sliding zoom design but its optical formula and performance has remained the same as earlier AF version.

  

Zoom-Nikkor 35-200mm f/3.5~f/4.5s MACRO

Along with another wide-angle Nikkor zoom 28-85mm f/3.5~4.5s MACRO, this 5.7X wide-to-tele Zoom-Nikkor 35-200mm f/3.5~f/4.5s MACRO was introduced in December 1985. The lens also shared a similar fast operating pull and slide design and has an amazing zoom range covers from 35mm wide-angle to 200mm telephoto range. It has a variable lens speed that ranges from f/3.5 for 35mm and extends gradually to f/4.5 when reaches 200mm.

 

This native Ai-S zoom lens has an Ai-S lens coupling system with an additional meter coupling prong provided for used with non-Ai Nikon bodies. Similarly, a macro-focus feature is provided where at the wide-angle 35 mm setting, the lens can focus down to 0.3m (1ft) and reaches a 1:4 life size reproduction ratio (1:7 at 1.6m helical focus)

 

The birth of this MF Nikkor zoom was little untimely as most users (including the manufacturers) have started diverting their attention to autofocus spearheaded by Minolta's AF MAXXUM 7000 which first kicked off the start of the AF revolution (Come to think of it, it is very similar to current scenario how digital photography has affected traditional film based photographic products). Whatever it is, if we leave that factor out of this discussion, the emergence of this Nikkor zoom has realised many photographers' desire who wish only to own a single zoom for there photography. Well, the birth of this mini-super zoom is not coincidental as it was a fruitful product that has taken Nikon optical engineers years of research which can date back to their Zoom-Nikkor 50-135mm f/3.5s back in 1982.

 

Although personally I would not referred this versatile zoom as the ultimate zoom lens for my personal photography, primarily because its main weakness is still confined to its wide-angle section where I find 35mm is still fall short from practicality in my overall photographic usage. Instead, I would rather see it to extend down to 28mm but obviously with the prevailing optical design technology, you know how complicated can it be to design such a dreamed zoom range while keeping its cost down to an affordable price range.

 

With a body dimension marginally longer than the Zoom-Nikkor 80-200mm f/4.0s, this lens also has a slightly larger 62mm filer attachment size.

 

Whatever the reasons, despite this zoom packed with many useful features (generous zoom range, macro-focus 1:4 and a reasonably compact dimension, Ai-S coupling-lens, etc.) however, it has not been a very popular lens among Nikon photographers — other than with its unwelcome variable lens speed feature which has limited its wide scale all round photographic usage, it may also boil down to its unrealistic asking price. The non-ED lens used to retail new between USD840-940-00* while other more attractive alternatives such as a 35-135mm is sold almost halved at USD550-00* and Nikkor 35-105mm at approx. USD400-00*. Source: * Macbroom's Camera Blue Book by Amherst Media, Inc. Well, I am not here trying to question why can't Nikon provide a fair and just price tag for this lens as they may have their own reasons to ask for such calling price; but again, the real threat was actually came from intense rivalries by third party manufacturers that have given Nikon some real tough time to market their optical products. Just for an example, Sigma's 35-200mm f/4.0~f/5.6 was selling at around USD200-00 while the Tamron SP 28-200mm f/3.8~5.6 LD Aspherical Super introduced later was only retailed new at USD325-00. Naturally, these 3rd party lenses were introduced at a much later stage (the earlier Tamron SP35-210mm f/3.5~4.2 was more specifically aiming at Nikon's 35-200mm). As a guideline, (there is no disrespect to the Tamron lenses) I think the Nikkor 35-200mm can be also be a good investment if you are lucky enough to locate a good one used condition.

  

Kit used: Nikon D 7100 and Nikon 35mm 1: 1.8G

 

ref: 3255 - 23rd June 2020

A brief note in early summer of 1904 began the life of St. Dominic Catholic Church. Bishop Schwebach’s short letter to Messrs Terra, Matushalk and Langford gave the Catholic church a home in Frederic, Wisconsin.

 

With permission granted by the Bishop in LaCrosse and the donation of a site by William Starr, a Frederic pioneer, the construction was begun. The church community was to pay one hundred dollars down and the balance on the completion of the church. Area residents such as John Matushalk, George Hagberg, Maggie Murphy, C. A. Carlson, M. Beaulieu, John Anderson, Martin Fox, and Thomas Smith, gave contributions, or donations of money in the amount of seventy-five cents to fifty dollars.

 

The contractor, W. E. Weaver, made an agreement with the church community that called for him to erect a building at a cost of twenty-five cents per block, when he provided them, and twelve cents when they were provided by the congregation.

 

Father Louis Archambault, a Dominican from Farmington, helped in the construction of the church.

 

Among the church workers were Melbert Beaulieu and his sons Francis and Fred. Melbert and Francis cleared all the trees from the wooded lot. They helped make and lay cement blocks along with Father Archambault, who dressed in overalls and helped pour cement into molds right along with the parishioners.

 

Prior to the establishment of a Catholic Church, in Frederic, as a parish unit, Franciscan and Dominican missionaries visited the area twice a year. The best known of these missionaries were: Father Cassimer Voght O.F.M., Chrysostom Werwyst O.F.M., and finally Father Odoric Derenthal, the priest, who said the first mass in Frederic, at the home of John Matushak, in 1902.

 

A Franciscan from Ashland, Father Odoric, was most highly remembered because of his work with the Chippewas. Given the name “Kosslnsian” which meant “Little Father”, he traveled to their homes and ministered to their spiritual needs.

 

Gordon Holmes, a zealous Native American Catholic, from Trade Lake, was a special friend of Father Odoric. Mr. Holmes taught his children and other Native Americans their catechism.

 

On a missionary trip to Stone Lake, Father Odoric was approached by Mrs. Pat McHale, a convert, who wanted him to build a church in Clam Falls. “I was dumbfounded,” writes Father Odoric in his diary, “at hearing such a foolish idea.

 

He continued, “After a few weeks I received a letter from Mrs. McHale at Ashland and she said, Dear Father, We had a supper dance when the River Boys (the men delivering logs down river) passed here and we made eighty dollars.” Again she wrote, “Father we had another social and made thirty dollars. I would like the church. What name do you purpose?” Father Odoric concluded, “I sent her a pretty plan made by our brother Leonard and selected St. Michael the archangel, thinking we needed a valiant defender against the power of darkness, who was very busy in this part of the country.”

 

The foundation of St. Michael Church in Clam Falls was laid in 1902 and served the needs of the Catholics in the area. Some families attending St. Michael were; Greeners, Malinovskys, McHales, Fahlands, Martins, Mrs. Warren Smith, Knights, Tyminskis, and Weinzierls. Many of these families became members of the St. Dominic congregation in 1944 when St. Michael closed.

 

Dorothy Fahland, whose home contains the dresser used as an altar by the early missionaries, remembers that church was held every Sunday in Frederic but not at St. Michael. Some other things that she could recollect were that St. Michael church was smaller, that everyone dressed in his or her best to attend church, and that most people traveled by horse-drawn sleds or wagons to attend mass.

 

Thomas Malinovsky, also a member of St. Michael, recalls a cold, stormy winter when Father Bernard Fries came to Clam Falls to say mass. Because the snow was so deep and drifted, his car got stuck, and he had to walk a quarter of a mile to the church. He said mass for the parishioners. A collection was taken up, and the total contribution was twenty-five cents.

 

In 1907 the women of the parish formed the Women’s under the patronage of St. Rose of Lima. The guild was responsible for sponsoring bazaars and parties to help support the church.

 

The young parish soon grew old enough to need a cemetery. In 1908 land was deeded to St. Dominic Church by the Maple Grove Cemetery Association for the sum of one dollar. This plot, adjacent to the municipal cemetery still serves the church community.

 

Handwritten entries in baptismal records testify to the number of priests who have served the people of St. Dominic.

 

One of the earliest was Father Joseph Fagan, a missionary from Superior, who came to say mass for the few Catholic families in Frederic. Despite the poor roads and other handicaps, the congregation moved forward.

 

Father Fagan would sometimes pass the home of Henry VanLoo, where he would pick up Henry and his sister Alice. Henry remembers that Father Fagan drove a Chevrolet coupe, with mohair upholstery, and that Father “Drove like crazy!”

 

According to Henry, most people came to church in wagons. To keep warm, in winter, the wagons were filled with straw and warm rocks. The rocks had been heated in kitchen ovens, prior to the ride to church. Henry remembers that many parishioners attended mass with pieces of straw stuck to their clothing.

 

Father Fagan recalled the first venture of the Sisters of St. Joseph, who came to work, as nurses, for the Frederic hospital for 1918-1919. But, because of the lack of a daily mass in the community, they reluctantly had to leave after the short stay.

 

At this time Frederic was one mission church, among ten or twelve, being served by the Cathedral of Superior. Missionaries sent from the cathedral were: Father Borucki, in 1918, Father Ignatius Kinney, from 1918-1920, Father M. A. Proch, from 1920-1921 and Father Henry Shaney, from 1920-1927,.

 

Father Joseph Annabring, who later became Bishop of the Superior Diocese, came in 1927. He inaugurated vacation religious instructions; perhaps the first of its kind in the Superior Diocese.

 

Father Ludwig Bohl came to serve as a missionary in 1929. Dorothy Fahland and other parishioners remember that he had a great singing voice.

 

Alice VanLoo, who once shared toe-curling rides with her brother in Father Fagan’s car, entered the Convent of the Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, in Lacrosse in 1929. Her community gaver the name Sister Mary Pascaleen. She was stationed in Iowa for many years, and is now retired.

 

Until 1934 priests would say mass at St. Dominic twice a month. For the most part, they were stationed in either Superior or Webster and on their visits, they were offered the hospitality of the parishioners.

 

The last missionary priest assigned to Frederic was Father Constant Trimbos, who served here from 1931-1938.

 

The parish owes a special remembrance to Father Bernard Fries who during his pastorate in Webster took a deep interest in the welfare of St. Dominic. He baptized many people during his visits from 1927-1938.

 

Being the first resident priest at St. Dominic was quite difficult for Father Henry Keil, when he was appointed here in 1934. In a letter he wrote, “I almost froze to death,” while living in the church basement for two months. A parishioner, Miss Sawyer, gave him a small stove and he “borrowed” a little wood from the church so that he had a little heat.

 

When Marge Ryan was a young girl, she stayed with her grandma Haumant in Frederic. She recalls that it was the job of her two uncles, Don and Elmer, to build the fire in the wood furnace at church. These uncles were “real, classy, dressers.” One Sunday, Elmer went to start the fire, so the church would be warm for mass. He was straightening up and he had a bunch of scraps, to burn, in his hand. So, before he went home, he was going to throw them into the fire. He opened the furnace door and threw in his new felt hat instead of the scraps. Marge relates that he was “madder than heck.” He still had the scraps in his hand when he came home.

 

While Father Wilfred Fries was assigned to St. Dominic in 1938, the first rectory was purchased.

 

In these early years, money was scarce. Dinners were held, Kit Oeffler remembers, and everyone brought something. Each family donated fifty cents for the meat. All the church work was done by the parishioners, and not one person asked for pay.

 

Louis D’Jock remembers having “Sister School,” during the summer, in Frederic. Someone from Siren would bring the kids to Frederic, and these kids would take the train back to Siren. The train left between three-thirty and four o’clock, so the Siren kids got to leave early.

 

The original church was remodeled while Father Henry Schnitz was pastor at St. Dominic, from 1946-1950. Father Schnitz presided over the organization of the Men’s Club in 1948, under the leadership of Louis St. Angelo. It was dedicated to serve the needs of the church community.

 

Father Alex Anton, pastor from 1950-1962, traveled between churches in all kinds of weather. Jim Ryan remembers it being so cold, during the winter that Father Anton said he kept the holy water in his pocket so that it wouldn’t freeze.

 

Cecelia Meyer went to confirmation classes at Father Anton’s house. They were often given popcorn as a special treat. One specific event, she recalls, was a trip to St. Angelo’s cabin on Silver Lake.

 

Father Anton received an unusual present for one Christmas according to Delores Duncan. In 1953, the children had a program in the old church basement. A stage was set up near the furnace, and the rest of the area was filled with chairs. People donated silver dollars that had been attached to a bell. The children came in singing, “Silver Bells”, while carrying bells. It was a presented to Father Anton as a gift. The ladies served a lunch to a packed audience.

 

Before Father Anton was reassigned, plans for the new church were well underway. In 1963, while Father Philip Stack was pastor at St. Dominic, the new church construction was completed.

 

John Donlin recalled a time, in 1963, when Father Stack called a meeting. He showed the church checkbook with a balance of between two and three hundred dollars; not enough to make it through the winter. He was concerned that the church would have to close its doors. Rose D’Jock, took over the meeting, and plans were made for the first parish festival. It was a pig roast at the home of Verne Engels.

 

After the first festival, it was decided to serve grilled chicken, so plans were made to get the necessary equipment. Jim Ryan and Gordan Rogers borrowed a pick-up to go to Dresser stone quarry and get some old scrap metal screens. They dug through to find what they wanted and took them to the Murphy brothers, in Luck, who made them into the grilling screens still used at p arish festivals today.

 

Father Stack brought some buddies, from Rice Lake, to teach the cooks how to do the chicken. Evidentially, the visitors spent too much time getting ready to be of any help to those men trying to learn.

 

Danuta (“Doody”) Williamson began playing the organ at St. Dominic in 1964, and continued to provide this ministry until her death in 1998. During more than 34 years she brought music to our parish as a solo performer, with leaders of song, and with the choir. Her faithfulness and talent added immensely to the worship of our parish.. Only weather or health would prevent her on occasion from sharing her gifts. Doody’s love for music, dedication and commitment provided many joyous and inspirational liturgies.

 

Father Aloysius Gostomski, pastor from 1965-1969, made many home visits. He often celebrated mass in parishioners’ homes, and blessed homes in both parishes.

 

A new bell tower was constructed while Father Marion Scheutz was pastor in 1972. Louis St. Angelo raised the money for the purchase, and the installation of the bell. In the same year Roman Weinzierl recalls the privilege was given by the bishop for a lay person to touch the host and distribute communion.

 

1972 also saw the chartering of the Knights of Columbus. The membership included the parishes of Frederic, Grantsburg, Balsam Lake, and Centuria. It is known as Council Number 6370, and is called the Philip Gordon Council. Roman Weinzierl was installed as the First Grand Knight. The members have spent hours helping the mentally disabled, in their Tootsie Roll Campaign. Recently, the Knights have branched out to help a local dentist raise money for orphans in Russia. The goal of the dentist was to give dental help for the children by training adults to use the equipment that he was taking over there.

 

Father Hugh Roches was assigned to Frederic, from 1972-74, followed by Father Andrew Berthold , who was a chaplain in Viet Nam before coming to St. Dominic in 1973. While here, Father Berthold helped increase the church membership by one-third. He had prayer services for the sick, instituted release time from the school for religious education, and he also held home masses.

 

For a brief time, in 1976, no priest was assigned to St. Dominic Church. During this time Father James Horath and Father Thomas Keilin were acting administrators while Sister Jean Benzchawel was parish coordinator.

 

In July of 1976, Father Jim Kraker became thew pastor of St. Dominic, in Frederic, and Immaculate Conception, in Grantsburg. Under the guidance of Father Jim, the church experienced the Spirit of Renewal rooted in Vatican 2. Sister Mary Clare Wartner, former Mother of Superior of the Order of the Sorrowful Mother, joined Father Jim as pastoral assistant. Her ministry lasted until 1978, when she was forced to retire due to a health condition.

 

Sister Lucy Ann Wasinzer became pastoral assistant to the Frederic and Grantsburg parishes, in 1979. Before coming to Frederic,she lived at St. Agnes Convent. While here, she helped develop our faith community by involving members of the church. She was reassigned in 1981.

 

While Father Kraker was pastor, a new rectory and religious center was planned and built. This building, which was constructed in the spring and summer of 1979, had six education rooms, a two-car garage, and pastoral offices. It was built at a cost of $114,000. Bishop Hammes blessed the rectory on October 21st, 1979; the same day St. Dominic celebrated its seventy-fifth anniversary.

 

Bill Heffner, a member of St. Dominic, was accepted as an applicant for permanent deconcate, in 1981, by the Diocese of Superior. He was later ordained by the Bishop Fliss and held this position until he later moved to Webster and Webb Lake.

 

On July 4, 1982 Father Kraker, to most parishioners unhappiness, was reassigned. Father James Dluge, former pastor of St. Louis Church in Superior, succeeded Father Kraker on July 26th, 1982.

 

One of the first things that Father Dluge accomplished was the re-activation of the Women’s Guild. Another top priority was to get the parish out of debt, and on June 15th, 1986, the debt was paid in full.

 

Many other improvements have been made in the years following. In the summer of 1988, stained glass windows adorned the church. Completed in October of 1988, the windows depict the seven Sacraments, and the five Christian Virtues. Other improvements included air-conditioning in 1991, along with new pew cushions the same year.

 

A new pavilion was built on the church grounds in 1992. This building is used for summer festival and houses the hamburger stand and the country store.

 

Because the old organ began to fall apart, and parts were no longer available, the parish decided to purchase an Allen Digital Computer organ from the Schmit Music Company in Minneapolis. It was blessed and dedicated by Father Dluge on Sunday, February 16th, 1992, with Garret William Lamain giving a concert on the new organ.

 

Father Dluge remained in Frederic and Grantsburg until 1997, when he was forced to resign due to ill health.

 

Father David Lusson was appointed to the two parishes on February 11th, 1997, and on Ash Wednesday, he said his first mass.

 

Before coming, Father Lusson served in the United States Navy from 1965-1972.

 

He was ordained on June 14th, 1980 after attending St. John’s School of Theology in Collegeville, Minnesota.

 

Before coming to Frederic, he was pastor of Saint Anne Church, Somerset and Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Parish at East Farmington.

 

In addition to St. Dominic Father Dave serves the parish of Immaculate Conception in Grantsburg. A popular innovation has been “neighborhood masses.” The combination of informal liturgy and pot luck dinner is held each week during the summer months at a parishioner’s residence.

 

Father Dave has something in common with Father Fagan, one of missionary priests. He does not like to spend a lot of time traveling slowly on the roads.

 

Faith in God, the parishioners, and himself even led to the printing of a parish Christmas card. One year it was decided that a Christmas tree, given by Irene Anderson, and as tall as the ceiling, was to be used for decoration. Few though it could be done, but Father said that all we needed was a little faith. With a lot of help, and a lot of faith it was accomplished. The Liturgy Committee was so impressed they had a photograph taken and made into a Christmas card.

 

Father Dave’s energy and enthusiasm has generated a new spirit for this church community.

 

Joel Cycenas, son of Joe and Nancy Cycenas of St. Dominic church was ordained to the priesthood on May 27th, 2000. He received his degree from Magdalen College in New Hampshire, and then joined the Archdiocese of Minneapolis and St. Paul. He was sent to Rome and began the theology program. His first assignment will be at St. Peters in Mendota Heights, Minnesota.

 

Al Schommer reminisces about the changes in the church. He remembers that everyone dressed up for church and went to confession at least once a month. Kids didn’t miss CCD unless they were really sick. He wonders if these many changes that have taken place are, “For the better or the worse.”

 

Fifty years ago, Father Anton said, “Cement blocks do not make a church. Our church is neat and compact, and inspires a prayerful spirit. Our rectory is comfortable, and our parish membership is increasing from year to year. But this is not the real wealth of our parish. The real wealth is the deep faith of its people.”

 

That same faith carries St. Dominic Parish to new goals and achievements today as we celebrate the Jubilee year 2000 and prepare to celebrate our first century as a parish family.

 

Frederic is a village in Polk County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,137 at the 2010 census. It was established as a village in 1901.

 

Frederic is located at 45°39′32″N 92°28′1″W (45.658797, -92.466921).

 

According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 1.79 square miles (4.64 km2), of which, 1.72 square miles (4.45 km2) of it is land and 0.07 square miles (0.18 km2) is water.

 

Frederic is along Wisconsin Highways 35 and 48, and Polk County Road W.

 

The Frederic School District consists of Frederic Elementary School and Frederic 6-12 School, which contains Frederic Middle School and Frederic High School.

 

Notable people

Robert M. Dueholm, Wisconsin politician, was born in Frederic.

Rodney Erickson, former president of Pennsylvania State University

Nathan Heffernan, member of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, was born in Frederic.

Erick H. Johnson, Wisconsin politician, lived in Frederic.

Rita Lee, Playboy's Playmate for the Month of November 1977, was born in Frederic.

Carol Merrill, a model for the original television game show Let's Make A Deal, was born in Frederic.

Erin Gloria Ryan, writer and podcaster, was born in Frederic.

Harvey Stower, Wisconsin politician, was born in Frederic.

 

Polk County is a county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, the population was 44,977. Its county seat is Balsam Lake. The county was created in 1853 and named for United States President James K. Polk.

 

Wisconsin is a state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by land area and the 20th-most populous.

 

The bulk of Wisconsin's population live in areas situated along the shores of Lake Michigan. The largest city, Milwaukee, anchors its largest metropolitan area, followed by Green Bay and Kenosha, the third- and fourth-most-populated Wisconsin cities, respectively. The state capital, Madison, is currently the second-most-populated and fastest-growing city in the state. Wisconsin is divided into 72 counties and as of the 2020 census had a population of nearly 5.9 million.

 

Wisconsin's geography is diverse, having been greatly impacted by glaciers during the Ice Age with the exception of the Driftless Area. The Northern Highland and Western Upland along with a part of the Central Plain occupy the western part of the state, with lowlands stretching to the shore of Lake Michigan. Wisconsin is third to Ontario and Michigan in the length of its Great Lakes coastline. The northern portion of the state is home to the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. At the time of European contact, the area was inhabited by Algonquian and Siouan nations, and today it is home to eleven federally recognized tribes. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, many European settlers entered the state, most of whom emigrated from Germany and Scandinavia. Wisconsin remains a center of German American and Scandinavian American culture, particularly in respect to its cuisine, with foods such as bratwurst and kringle. Wisconsin is home to one UNESCO World Heritage Site, comprising two of the most significant buildings designed by Wisconsin-born architect Frank Lloyd Wright: his studio at Taliesin near Spring Green and his Jacobs I House in Madison.

 

The Republican Party was founded in Wisconsin in 1854. In more recent years, Wisconsin has been a battleground state in presidential elections, notably in 2016 and 2020.

 

Wisconsin is one of the nation's leading dairy producers and is known as "America's Dairyland"; it is particularly famous for its cheese. The state is also famous for its beer, particularly and historically in Milwaukee, most notably as the headquarters of the Miller Brewing Company. Wisconsin has some of the most permissive alcohol laws in the country and is well known for its drinking culture. Its economy is dominated by manufacturing, healthcare, information technology, and agriculture—specifically dairy, cranberries, and ginseng. Tourism is also a major contributor to the state's economy. The gross domestic product in 2020 was $348 billion.

 

The history of Wisconsin encompasses the story not only of the people who have lived in Wisconsin since it became a state of the U.S., but also that of the Native American tribes who made their homeland in Wisconsin, the French and British colonists who were the first Europeans to live there, and the American settlers who lived in Wisconsin when it was a territory.

 

Since its admission to the Union on May 29, 1848, as the 30th state, Wisconsin has been ethnically heterogeneous, with Yankees being among the first to arrive from New York and New England. They dominated the state's heavy industry, finance, politics and education. Large numbers of European immigrants followed them, including German Americans, mostly between 1850 and 1900, Scandinavians (the largest group being Norwegian Americans) and smaller groups of Belgian Americans, Dutch Americans, Swiss Americans, Finnish Americans, Irish Americans and others; in the 20th century, large numbers of Polish Americans and African Americans came, settling mainly in Milwaukee.

 

Politically the state was predominantly Republican until recent years, when it became more evenly balanced. The state took a national leadership role in the Progressive Movement, under the aegis of Robert M. "Fighting Bob" La Follette and his family, who fought the old guard bitterly at the state and national levels. The "Wisconsin Idea" called for the use of the higher learning in modernizing government, and the state is notable for its strong network of state universities.

 

The first known inhabitants of what is now Wisconsin were Paleo-Indians, who first arrived in the region in about 10,000 BC at the end of the Ice Age. The retreating glaciers left behind a tundra in Wisconsin inhabited by large animals, such as mammoths, mastodons, bison, giant beaver, and muskox. The Boaz mastodon and the Clovis artifacts discovered in Boaz, Wisconsin show that the Paleo-Indians hunted these large animals. They also gathered plants as conifer forests grew in the glaciers' wake. With the decline and extinction of many large mammals in the Americas, the Paleo-Indian diet shifted toward smaller mammals like deer and bison.

 

During the Archaic Period, from 6000 to 1000 BC, mixed conifer-hardwood forests as well as mixed prairie-forests replaced Wisconsin's conifer forests. People continued to depend on hunting and gathering. Around 4000 BC they developed spear-throwers and copper tools such as axes, adzes, projectile points, knives, perforators, fishhooks and harpoons. Copper ornaments like beaded necklaces also appeared around 1500 BC. These people gathered copper ore at quarries on the Keweenaw Peninsula in Michigan and on Isle Royale in Lake Superior. They may have crafted copper artifacts by hammering and folding the metal and also by heating it to increase its malleability. However it is not certain if these people reached the level of copper smelting. Regardless, the Copper Culture of the Great Lakes region reached a level of sophistication unprecedented in North America. The Late Archaic Period also saw the emergence of cemeteries and ritual burials, such as the one in Oconto.

 

The Early Woodland Period began in 1000 BC as plants became an increasingly important part of the people's diet. Small scale agriculture and pottery arrived in southern Wisconsin at this time. The primary crops were maize, beans and squash. Agriculture, however, could not sufficiently support these people, who also had to hunt and gather. Agriculture at this time was more akin to gardening than to farming. Villages emerged along rivers, streams and lakes, and the earliest earthen burial mounds were constructed. The Havana Hopewell culture arrived in Wisconsin in the Middle Woodland Period, settling along the Mississippi River. The Hopewell people connected Wisconsin to their trade practices, which stretched from Ohio to Yellowstone and from Wisconsin to the Gulf of Mexico. They constructed elaborate mounds, made elaborately decorated pottery and brought a wide range of traded minerals to the area. The Hopewell people may have influenced the other inhabitants of Wisconsin, rather than displacing them. The Late Woodland Period began in about 400 AD, following the disappearance of the Hopewell culture from the area. The people of Wisconsin first used the bow and arrow in the final centuries of the Woodland Period, and agriculture continued to be practiced in the southern part of the state. The effigy mound culture dominated Southern Wisconsin during this time, building earthen burial mounds in the shapes of animals. Examples of effigy mounds still exist at High Cliff State Park and at Lizard Mound County Park. In northern Wisconsin people continued to survive on hunting and gathering, and constructed conical mounds.

 

People of the Mississippian culture expanded into Wisconsin around 1050 AD and established a settlement at Aztalan along the Crawfish River. While begun by the Caddoan people, other cultures began to borrow & adapt the Mississippian cultural structure. This elaborately planned site may have been the northernmost outpost of Cahokia, although it is also now known that some Siouan peoples along the Mississippi River may have taken part in the culture as well. Regardless, the Mississippian site traded with and was clearly influenced in its civic and defensive planning, as well as culturally, by its much larger southern neighbor. A rectangular wood-and-clay stockade surrounded the twenty acre site, which contained two large earthen mounds and a central plaza. One mound may have been used for food storage, as a residence for high-ranking officials, or as a temple, and the other may have been used as a mortuary. The Mississippian culture cultivated maize intensively, and their fields probably stretched far beyond the stockade at Aztalan, although modern agriculture has erased any traces of Mississippian practices in the area. Some rumors also speculate that the people of Aztalan may have experimented slightly with stone architecture in the making of a man-made, stone-line pond, at the very least. While the first settler on the land of what is now the city supposedly reported this, he filled it in and it has yet to be rediscovered.

 

Both Woodland and Mississippian peoples inhabited Aztalan, which was connected to the extensive Mississippian trade network. Shells from the Gulf of Mexico, copper from Lake Superior and Mill Creek chert have been found at the site. Aztalan was abandoned around 1200 AD. The Oneota people later built agriculturally based villages, similar to those of the Mississippians but without the extensive trade networks, in the state.

 

By the time the first Europeans arrived in Wisconsin, the Oneota had disappeared. The historically documented inhabitants, as of the first European incursions, were the Siouan speaking Dakota Oyate to the northwest, the Chiwere speaking Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) and the Algonquian Menominee to the northeast, with their lands beginning approximately north of Green Bay. The Chiwere lands were south of Green Bay and followed rivers to the southwest. Over time, other tribes moved to Wisconsin, including the Ojibwe, the Illinois, the Fauk, the Sauk and the Mahican. The Mahican were one of the last groups to arrived, coming from New York after the U.S. congress passed the Indian Removal Act of 1830.

 

The first European known to have landed in Wisconsin was Jean Nicolet. In 1634, Samuel de Champlain, governor of New France, sent Nicolet to contact the Ho-Chunk people, make peace between them and the Huron and expand the fur trade, and possibly to also find a water route to Asia. Accompanied by seven Huron guides, Nicolet left New France and canoed through Lake Huron and Lake Superior, and then became the first European known to have entered Lake Michigan. Nicolet proceeded into Green Bay, which he named La Baie des Puants (literally "The Stinking Bay"), and probably came ashore near the Red Banks. He made contact with the Ho-Chunk and Menominee living in the area and established peaceful relations. Nicolet remained with the Ho-Chunk the winter before he returned to Quebec.

 

The Beaver Wars fought between the Iroquois and the French prevented French explorers from returning to Wisconsin until 1652–1654, when Pierre Radisson and Médard des Groseilliers arrived at La Baie des Puants to trade furs. They returned to Wisconsin in 1659–1660, this time at Chequamegon Bay on Lake Superior. On their second voyage they found that the Ojibwe had expanded into northern Wisconsin, as they continued to prosper in the fur trade. They also were the first Europeans to contact the Santee Dakota. They built a trading post and wintered near Ashland, before returning to Montreal.

 

In 1665 Claude-Jean Allouez, a Jesuit missionary, built a mission on Lake Superior. Five years later he abandoned the mission, and journeyed to La Baie des Puants. Two years later he built St. Francis Xavier Mission near present-day De Pere. In his journeys through Wisconsin, he encountered groups of Native Americans who had been displaced by Iroquois in the Beaver Wars. He evangelized the Algonquin-speaking Potawatomi, who had settled on the Door Peninsula after fleeing Iroquois attacks in Michigan. He also encountered the Algonquin-speaking Sauk, who had been forced into Michigan by the Iroquois, and then had been forced into central Wisconsin by the Ojibwe and the Huron.

 

The next major expedition into Wisconsin was that of Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet in 1673. After hearing rumors from Indians telling of the existence of the Mississippi River, Marquette and Joliet set out from St. Ignace, in what is now Michigan, and entered the Fox River at Green Bay. They canoed up the Fox until they reached the river's westernmost point, and then portaged, or carried their boats, to the nearby Wisconsin River, where they resumed canoeing downstream to the Mississippi River. Marquette and Joliet reached the Mississippi near what is now Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin in June, 1673.

 

Nicolas Perrot, French commander of the west, established Fort St. Nicholas at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin in May, 1685, near the southwest end of the Fox-Wisconsin Waterway. Perrot also built a fort on the shores of Lake Pepin called Fort St. Antoine in 1686, and a second fort, called Fort Perrot, on an island on Lake Peppin shortly after. In 1727, Fort Beauharnois was constructed on what is now the Minnesota side of Lake Pepin to replace the two previous forts. A fort and a Jesuit mission were also built on the shores of Lake Superior at La Pointe, in present-day Wisconsin, in 1693 and operated until 1698. A second fort was built on the same site in 1718 and operated until 1759. These were not military posts, but rather small storehouses for furs.

 

During the French colonial period, the first black people came to Wisconsin. The first record of a black person comes from 1725, when a black slave was killed along with four Frenchmen in a Native American raid on Green Bay. Other French fur traders and military personnel brought slaves with them to Wisconsin later in 1700s.

 

None of the French posts had permanent settlers; fur traders and missionaries simply visited them from time to time to conduct business.

 

In the 1720s, the anti-French Fox tribe, led by war chief Kiala, raided French settlements on the Mississippi River and disrupted French trade on Lake Michigan. From 1728 to 1733, the Fox fought against the French-supported Potawatomi, Ojibwa, Huron and Ottawa tribes. In 1733, Kiala was captured and sold into slavery in the West Indies along with other captured Fox.

 

Before the war, the Fox tribe numbered 1500, but by 1733, only 500 Fox were left. As a result, the Fox joined the Sauk people.

 

The details are unclear, but this war appears to have been part of the conflict that expelled the Dakota & Illinois peoples out onto the Great Plains, causing further displacement of other Chiwere, Caddoan & Algonquian peoples there—including the ancestors of the Ioway, Osage, Pawnee, Arikara, A'ani, Arapaho, Hidatsa, Cheyenne & Blackfoot.

 

The British gradually took over Wisconsin during the French and Indian War, taking control of Green Bay in 1761, gaining control of all of Wisconsin in 1763, and annexing the area to the Province of Quebec in 1774. Like the French, the British were interested in little but the fur trade. One notable event in the fur trading industry in Wisconsin occurred in 1791, when two free African Americans set up a fur trading post among the Menominee at present day Marinette. The first permanent settlers, mostly French Canadians, some Anglo-New Englanders and a few African American freedmen, arrived in Wisconsin while it was under British control. Charles Michel de Langlade is generally recognized as the first settler, establishing a trading post at Green Bay in 1745, and moving there permanently in 1764. In 1766 the Royal Governor of the new territory, Robert Rogers, engaged Jonathan Carver to explore and map the newly acquired territories for the Crown, and to search for a possible Northwest Passage. Carver left Fort Michilimackinac that spring and spent the next three years exploring and mapping what is now Wisconsin and parts of Minnesota.

 

Settlement began at Prairie du Chien around 1781. The French residents at the trading post in what is now Green Bay, referred to the town as "La Bey", however British fur traders referred to it as "Green Bay", because the water and the shore assumed green tints in early spring. The old French title was gradually dropped, and the British name of "Green Bay" eventually stuck. The region coming under British rule had virtually no adverse effect on the French residents as the British needed the cooperation of the French fur traders and the French fur traders needed the goodwill of the British. During the French occupation of the region licenses for fur trading had been issued scarcely and only to select groups of traders, whereas the British, in an effort to make as much money as possible from the region, issued licenses for fur trading freely, both to British and French residents. The fur trade in what is now Wisconsin reached its height under British rule, and the first self-sustaining farms in the state were established at this time as well. From 1763 to 1780, Green Bay was a prosperous community which produced its own foodstuff, built graceful cottages and held dances and festivities.

 

The United States acquired Wisconsin in the Treaty of Paris (1783). Massachusetts claimed the territory east of the Mississippi River between the present-day Wisconsin-Illinois border and present-day La Crosse, Wisconsin. Virginia claimed the territory north of La Crosse to Lake Superior and all of present-day Minnesota east of the Mississippi River. Shortly afterward, in 1787, the Americans made Wisconsin part of the new Northwest Territory. Later, in 1800, Wisconsin became part of Indiana Territory. Despite the fact that Wisconsin belonged to the United States at this time, the British continued to control the local fur trade and maintain military alliances with Wisconsin Indians in an effort to stall American expansion westward by creating a pro-British Indian barrier state.

 

The United States did not firmly exercise control over Wisconsin until the War of 1812. In 1814, the Americans built Fort Shelby at Prairie du Chien. During the war, the Americans and British fought one battle in Wisconsin, the July, 1814 Siege of Prairie du Chien, which ended as a British victory. The British captured Fort Shelby and renamed it Fort McKay, after Major William McKay, the British commander who led the forces that won the Battle of Prairie du Chien. However, the 1815 Treaty of Ghent reaffirmed American jurisdiction over Wisconsin, which was by then a part of Illinois Territory. Following the treaty, British troops burned Fort McKay, rather than giving it back to the Americans, and departed Wisconsin. To protect Prairie du Chien from future attacks, the United States Army constructed Fort Crawford in 1816, on the same site as Fort Shelby. Fort Howard was also built in 1816 in Green Bay.

 

Significant American settlement in Wisconsin, a part of Michigan Territory beginning in 1818, was delayed by two Indian wars, the minor Winnebago War of 1827 and the larger Black Hawk War of 1832.

 

The Winnebago War started when, in 1826, two Winnebago men were detained at Fort Crawford on charges of murder and then transferred to Fort Snelling in present-day Minnesota. The Winnebago in the area believed that both men had been executed. On June 27, 1827, a Winnebago war band led by Chief Red Bird and the prophet White Cloud (Wabokieshiek) attacked a family of settlers outside of Prairie du Chien, killing two. They then went on to attack two keel-boats on the Mississippi River that were heading toward Fort Snelling, killing two settlers and injuring four more. Seven Winnebago warriors were killed in those attacks. The war band also attacked settlers on the lower Wisconsin River and the lead mines at Galena, Illinois. The war band surrendered at Portage, Wisconsin, rather than fighting the United States Army that was pursuing them.

 

In the Black Hawk War, Sac, Fox, and Kickapoo Native Americans, otherwise known as the British Band, led by Chief Black Hawk, who had been relocated from Illinois to Iowa, attempted to resettle in their Illinois homeland on April 5, 1832, in violation of Treaty. On May 10 Chief Black Hawk decided to go back to Iowa. On May 14, Black Hawk's forces met with a group of militiamen led by Isaiah Stillman. All three members of Black Hawk's parley were shot and one was killed. The Battle of Stillman's Run ensued, leaving twelve militiamen and three to five Sac and Fox warriors dead. Of the fifteen battles of the war, six took place in Wisconsin. The other nine as well as several smaller skirmishes took place in Illinois. The first confrontation to take place in Wisconsin was the first attack on Fort Blue Mounds on June 6, in which one member of the local militia was killed outside of the fort. There was also the Spafford Farm Massacre on June 14, the Battle of Horseshoe Bend on June 16, which was a United States victory, the second attack on Fort Blue Mounds on June 20, and the Sinsinawa Mound raid on June 29. The Native Americans were defeated at the Battle of Wisconsin Heights on July 21, with forty to seventy killed and only one killed on the United States side. The Ho Chunk Nation fought on the side of the United States. The Black Hawk War ended with the Battle of Bad Axe on August 1–2, with over 150 of the British Band dead and 75 captured and only five killed in the United States forces. Those crossing the Mississippi were killed by Lakota, American and Ho Chunk Forces. Many of the British Band survivors were handed over to the United States on August 20 by the Lakota Tribe, with the exception of Black Hawk, who had retreated into Vernon County, Wisconsin and White Cloud, who surrendered on August 27, 1832. Black Hawk was captured by Decorah south of Bangor, Wisconsin, south of the headwaters of the La Crosse River. He was then sold to the U.S. military at Prairie du Chien, accepted by future Confederate president, Stephen Davis, who was a soldier at the time. Black Hawk's tribe had killed his daughter. Black Hawk moved back to Iowa in 1833, after being held prisoner by the United States government.

 

The Francois Vertefeuille House in Prairie du Chien was built in the 1810s by fur traders. A rare example of the pièce-sur-pièce à coulisse technique once common in French-Canadian architecture, it is one of the oldest buildings in the state and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

 

The Cornish immigrants who worked in Wisconsin's lead mines build simple stone cabins from limestone. Six cabins are preserved at the Pendarvis Historic Site in Mineral Point.

The resolution of these Indian conflicts opened the way for Wisconsin's settlement. Many of the region's first settlers were drawn by the prospect of lead mining in southwest Wisconsin. This area had traditionally been mined by Native Americans. However, after a series of treaties removed the Indians, the lead mining region was opened to white miners. Thousands rushed in from across the country to dig for the "gray gold". By 1829, 4,253 miners and 52 licensed smelting works were in the region. Expert miners from Cornwall in Britain informed a large part of the wave of immigrants. Boom towns like Mineral Point, Platteville, Shullsburg, Belmont, and New Diggings sprang up around mines. The first two federal land offices in Wisconsin were opened in 1834 at Green Bay and at Mineral Point. By the 1840s, southwest Wisconsin mines were producing more than half of the nation's lead, which was no small amount, as the United States was producing annually some 31 million pounds of lead. Wisconsin was dubbed the "Badger State" because of the lead miners who first settled there in the 1820s and 1830s. Without shelter in the winter, they had to "live like badgers" in tunnels burrowed into hillsides.

 

Although the lead mining area drew the first major wave of settlers, its population would soon be eclipsed by growth in Milwaukee. Milwaukee, along with Sheboygan, Manitowoc, and Kewaunee, can be traced back to a series of trading posts established by the French trader Jacques Vieau in 1795. Vieau's post at the mouth of the Milwaukee River was purchased in 1820 by Solomon Juneau, who had visited the area as early as 1818. Juneau moved to what is now Milwaukee and took over the trading post's operation in 1825.

 

When the fur trade began to decline, Juneau focused on developing the land around his trading post. In the 1830s, he formed a partnership with Green Bay lawyer Morgan Martin, and the two men bought 160 acres (0.6 km2) of land between Lake Michigan and the Milwaukee River. There they founded the settlement of Juneautown. Meanwhile, an Ohio businessman named Byron Kilbourn began to invest in the land west of the Milwaukee River, forming the settlement of Kilbourntown. South of these two settlements, George H. Walker founded the town of Walker's Point in 1835. Each of these three settlements engaged in a fierce competition to attract the most residents and become the largest of the three towns. In 1840, the Wisconsin State Legislature ordered the construction of a bridge over the Milwaukee River to replace the inadequate ferry system. In 1845, Byron Kilbourn, who had been trying to isolate Juneautown to make it more dependent on Kilbourntown, destroyed a portion of the bridge, which started the Milwaukee Bridge War. For several weeks, skirmishes broke out between the residents of both towns. No one was killed but several people were injured, some seriously. On January 31, 1846, the settlements of Juneautown, Kilbourntown, and Walker's Point merged into the incorporated city of Milwaukee. Solomon Juneau was elected mayor. The new city had a population of about 10,000 people, making it the largest city in the territory. Milwaukee remains the largest city in Wisconsin to this day.

 

Wisconsin Territory was created by an act of the United States Congress on April 20, 1836. By fall of that year, the best prairie groves of the counties surrounding Milwaukee were occupied by New England farmers. The new territory initially included all of the present day states of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa, as well as parts of North and South Dakota. At the time the Congress called it the "Wiskonsin Territory".

 

The first territorial governor of Wisconsin was Henry Dodge. He and other territorial lawmakers were initially busied by organizing the territory's government and selecting a capital city. The selection of a location to build a capitol caused a heated debate among the territorial politicians. At first, Governor Dodge selected Belmont, located in the heavily populated lead mining district, to be capital. Shortly after the new legislature convened there, however, it became obvious that Wisconsin's first capitol was inadequate. Numerous other suggestions for the location of the capital were given representing nearly every city that existed in the territory at the time, and Governor Dodge left the decision up to the other lawmakers. The legislature accepted a proposal by James Duane Doty to build a new city named Madison on an isthmus between lakes Mendota and Monona and put the territory's permanent capital there. In 1837, while Madison was being built, the capitol was temporarily moved to Burlington. This city was transferred to Iowa Territory in 1838, along with all the lands of Wisconsin Territory west of the Mississippi River.

 

Wyman calls Wisconsin a "palimpsest" of layer upon layer of peoples and forces, each imprinting permanent influences. He identified these layers as multiple "frontiers" over three centuries: Native American frontier, French frontier, English frontier, fur-trade frontier, mining frontier, and the logging frontier. Finally the coming of the railroad brought the end of the frontier.

 

The historian of the frontier, Frederick Jackson Turner, grew up in Wisconsin during its last frontier stage, and in his travels around the state he could see the layers of social and political development. One of Turner's last students, Merle Curti used in-depth analysis of local history in Trempealeau County to test Turner's thesis about democracy. Turner's view was that American democracy, "involved widespread participation in the making of decisions affecting the common life, the development of initiative and self-reliance, and equality of economic and cultural opportunity. It thus also involved Americanization of immigrant." Curti found that from 1840 to 1860 in Wisconsin the poorest groups gained rapidly in land ownership, and often rose to political leadership at the local level. He found that even landless young farm workers were soon able to obtain their own farms. Free land on the frontier therefore created opportunity and democracy, for both European immigrants as well as old stock Yankees.

 

By the mid-1840s, the population of Wisconsin Territory had exceeded 150,000, more than twice the number of people required for Wisconsin to become a state. In 1846, the territorial legislature voted to apply for statehood. That fall, 124 delegates debated the state constitution. The document produced by this convention was considered extremely progressive for its time. It banned commercial banking, granted married women the right to own property, and left the question of African-American suffrage to a popular vote. Most Wisconsinites considered the first constitution to be too radical, however, and voted it down in an April 1847 referendum.

 

In December 1847, a second constitutional convention was called. This convention resulted in a new, more moderate state constitution that Wisconsinites approved in a March 1848 referendum, enabling Wisconsin to become the 30th state on May 29, 1848. Wisconsin was the last state entirely east of the Mississippi River (and by extension the last state formed entirely from territory assigned to the U.S. in the 1783 Treaty of Paris) to be admitted to the Union.

 

With statehood, came the creation of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, which is the state's oldest public university. The creation of this university was set aside in the state charter.

 

In 1847, the Mineral Point Tribune reported that the town's furnaces were producing 43,800 pounds (19,900 kg) of lead each day. Lead mining in southwest Wisconsin began to decline after 1848 and 1849 when the combination of less easily accessible lead ore and the California Gold Rush made miners leave the area. The lead mining industry in mining communities such as Mineral Point managed to survive into the 1860s, but the industry was never as prosperous as it was before the decline.

 

By 1850 Wisconsin's population was 305,000. Roughly a third (103,000) were Yankees from New England and western New York state. The second largest group were the Germans, numbering roughly 38,000, followed by 28,000 British immigrants from England, Scotland and Wales. There were roughly 63,000 Wisconsin-born residents of the state. The Yankee migrants would be the dominant political class in Wisconsin for many years.

 

A railroad frenzy swept Wisconsin shortly after it achieved statehood. The first railroad line in the state was opened between Milwaukee and Waukesha in 1851 by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad. The railroad pushed on, reaching Milton, Wisconsin in 1852, Stoughton, Wisconsin in 1853, and the capital city of Madison in 1854. The company reached its goal of completing a rail line across the state from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River when the line to Prairie du Chien was completed in 1857. Shortly after this, other railroad companies completed their own tracks, reaching La Crosse in the west and Superior in the north, spurring development in those cities. By the end of the 1850s, railroads crisscrossed the state, enabling the growth of other industries that could now easily ship products to markets across the country.

 

Nelson Dewey, the first governor of Wisconsin, was a Democrat. Born in Lebanon, Connecticut, Dewey's father's family had lived in New England since 1633, when their ancestor, Thomas Due, had come to America from Kent County, England. Dewey oversaw the transition from the territorial to the new state government. He encouraged the development of the state's infrastructure, particularly the construction of new roads, railroads, canals, and harbors, as well as the improvement of the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers. During his administration, the State Board of Public Works was organized. Dewey was an abolitionist and the first of many Wisconsin governors to advocate against the spread of slavery into new states and territories. The home Dewey built near Cassville is now a state park.

 

Between 1848 and 1862, Wisconsin had three Democratic governors, all of whom were in office prior to 1856, four Republican governors, all of whom were in office after 1856, and one Whig governor, Leonard J. Farwell, who served from 1852 to 1854. Under Farwell's governorship, Wisconsin became the second state to abolish capital punishment.

 

In the presidential elections of 1848 and 1852, the Democratic Party won Wisconsin. In the elections of 1856, 1860, and 1864, the Republican Party won the state.

 

Between the 1840s and 1860s, settlers from New England, New York and Germany arrived in Wisconsin. Some of them brought radical political ideas to the state. In the 1850s, stop-overs on the underground railroad were set up in the state and abolitionist groups were formed. Some abolitionist and free-soil activists left the Whig and Democratic parties, running and in some cases being elected as candidates of the Liberty Party and Free Soil Party. The most successful such group was the Republican Party. On March 20, 1854, the first county meeting of the Republican Party of the United States, consisting of about thirty people, was held in the Little White Schoolhouse in Ripon, Wisconsin. Ripon claims to be the birthplace of the Republican Party, as does Jackson, Michigan, where the first statewide convention was held. The new party absorbed most of the former Free Soil and Liberty Party members.

 

A notable instance of abolitionism in Wisconsin was the rescue of Joshua Glover, an escaped slave from St. Louis who sought refuge in Racine, Wisconsin in 1852. He was caught in 1854 by federal marshals and put in a jail at Cathedral Square in Milwaukee, where he waited to be returned to his owner. A mob of 5,000 people led by Milwaukee abolitionist Sherman Booth, himself a "Yankee" transplant from rural New York, sprung Glover from jail and helped him escape to Canada via the underground railroad.

 

In the 1850s, two-thirds of immigrants to Wisconsin came from the eastern United States, the other one-third being foreign-born. The majority of the foreign born were German immigrants. Many Irish and Norwegian immigrants also came to Wisconsin in the 1850s. Northern Europeans, many of whom were persecuted in their home countries because of their support for the failed bourgeois Revolutions of 1848, often chose Wisconsin because of the liberal constitution of human rights such as the state's unusual recognition of immigrants' right to vote and rights to citizenship.

 

Yankee settlers from New England started arriving in Wisconsin in the 1830s spread throughout the southern half of the territory. They dominated early politics. Most of them started as farmers, but the larger proportion moved to towns and cities as entrepreneurs, businessmen and professionals.

 

Historian John Bunker has examined the worldview of the Yankee settlers in the Wisconsin:

 

Because they arrived first and had a strong sense of community and mission, Yankees were able to transplant New England institutions, values, and mores, altered only by the conditions of frontier life. They established a public culture that emphasized the work ethic, the sanctity of private property, individual responsibility, faith in residential and social mobility, practicality, piety, public order and decorum, reverence for public education, activists, honest, and frugal government, town meeting democracy, and he believed that there was a public interest that transcends particular and stick ambitions. Regarding themselves as the elect and just in a world rife with sin, air, and corruption, they felt a strong moral obligation to define and enforce standards of community and personal behavior....This pietistic worldview was substantially shared by British, Scandinavian, Swiss, English-Canadian and Dutch Reformed immigrants, as well as by German Protestants and many of the "Forty-Niners."

 

The color guard of the Wisconsin 8th Infantry with Old Abe

Wisconsin enrolled 91,379 soldiers in the Union Army during the American Civil War. 272 of enlisted Wisconsin troops were African American, with the rest being white. Of these, 3,794 were killed in action or mortally wounded, 8,022 died of disease, and 400 were killed in accidents. The total mortality was 12,216 men, about 13.4 percent of total enlistments. Many soldiers trained at Camp Randall currently the site of the University of Wisconsin's athletic stadium.

 

The draft implemented by President Lincoln in 1862 was unpopular in some Wisconsin communities, particularly among German and Luxembourgish immigrants. In November 1862, draft riots broke out in Milwaukee, Port Washington, and West Bend, which were quelled by deploying U.S. troops in the cities.

 

Most Wisconsin troops served in the western theater, although several Wisconsin regiments fought in the east, such as the 2nd Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment, 6th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment, and 7th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment, which formed part of the Iron Brigade. These three regiments fought in the Northern Virginia Campaign, the Maryland Campaign, the Battle of Fredericksburg, the Battle of Chancellorsville, the Gettysburg Campaign, the Battle of Mine Run, the Overland Campaign, the Siege of Petersburg, and the Appomattox Campaign.

 

The 8th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment, which fought in the western theater of war, is also worthy of mention, having fought at the Battle of Iuka, the Siege of Vicksburg, the Red River Campaign, and the Battle of Nashville. The 8th Wisconsin is also known for its mascot, Old Abe.

 

Agriculture was a major component of the Wisconsin economy during the 19th century. Wheat was a primary crop on early Wisconsin farms. In fact, during the mid 19th century, Wisconsin produced about one sixth of the wheat grown in the United States. However, wheat rapidly depleted nutrients in the soil, especially nitrogen, and was vulnerable to insects, bad weather, and wheat leaf rust. In the 1860s, chinch bugs arrived in Wisconsin and damaged wheat across the state. As the soil lost its quality and prices dropped, the practice of wheat farming moved west into Iowa and Minnesota. Some Wisconsin farmers responded by experimenting with crop rotation and other methods to restore the soil's fertility, but a larger number turned to alternatives to wheat.

 

In parts of northern Wisconsin, farmers cultivated cranberries and in a few counties in south central Wisconsin, farmers had success growing tobacco, but the most popular replacement for wheat was dairy farming. As wheat fell out of favor, many Wisconsin farmers started raising dairy cattle and growing feed crops, which were better suited to Wisconsin's climate and soil. One reason for the popularity of dairy farming was that many of Wisconsin's farmers had come to the state from New York, the leading producer of dairy products at the time. In addition, many immigrants from Europe brought an extensive knowledge of cheese making. Dairying was also promoted by the University of Wisconsin–Madison's school of agriculture, which offered education to dairy farmers and researched ways to produce better dairy products. The first test of butterfat content in milk was developed at the university, which allowed for consistency in the quality of butter and cheese. By 1899, over ninety percent of Wisconsin farms raised dairy cows and by 1915, Wisconsin had become the leading producer of dairy products in the United States, a position it held until the 1990s. The term America's Dairyland appeared in newspapers as early as 1913 when the state's butterfat production became first in the nation. In 1939 the state legislature enacted a bill to add the slogan to the state's automobile license plates. It continues to be the nation's largest producer of cheese, no longer focusing on the raw material (milk) but rather the value-added products. Because of this, Wisconsin continues to promote itself as "America's Dairyland", Wisconsinites are referred to as cheeseheads in some parts of the country, including Wisconsin, and foam cheesehead hats are associated with Wisconsin and its NFL team, the Green Bay Packers.

 

The first brewery in Wisconsin was opened in 1835 in Mineral Point by brewer John Phillips. A year later, he opened a second brewery in Elk Grove. In 1840, the first brewery in Milwaukee was opened by Richard G. Owens, William Pawlett, and John Davis, all Welsh immigrants. By 1860, nearly 200 breweries operated in Wisconsin, more than 40 of them in Milwaukee. The huge growth in the brewing industry can be accredited, in part, to the influx of German immigrants to Wisconsin in the 1840s and 1850s. Milwaukee breweries also grew in volume due to the destruction of Chicago's breweries during the great Chicago fire. In the second half of the 19th century, four of the largest breweries in the United States opened in Milwaukee: Miller Brewing Company, Pabst Brewing Company, Valentin Blatz Brewing Company, and Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company. In the 20th century Pabst absorbed Blatz and Schlitz, and moved its brewery and corporate headquarters to California. Miller continues to operate in Milwaukee. The Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company opened in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin in 1867 and continues to operate there to this day.

 

Agriculture was not viable in the densely forested northern and central parts of Wisconsin. Settlers came to this region for logging. The timber industry first set up along the Wisconsin River. Rivers were used to transport lumber from where the wood was being cut, to the sawmills. Sawmills in cities like Wausau and Stevens Point sawed the lumber into boards that were used for construction. The Wolf River also saw considerable logging by industrious Menominee. The Black and Chippewa Rivers formed a third major logging region. That area was dominated by one company owned by Frederick Weyerhaeuser. The construction of railroads allowed loggers to log year round, after rivers froze, and go deeper into the forests to cut down previously unshippable wood supplies. Wood products from Wisconsin's forests such as doors, furniture, beams, shipping boxes, and ships were made in industrial cities with connects to the Wisconsin lumber industry such as Chicago, Milwaukee, Sheboygan, and Manitowoc. Milwaukee and Manitowoc were centers for commercial ship building in Wisconsin. Many cargo ships built in these communities were used to transport lumber from logging ports to major industrial cities. Later a growing paper industry in the Fox River Valley made use of wood pulp from the state's lumber industry.

 

Logging was a dangerous trade, with high accident rates. On October 8, 1871, the Peshtigo Fire burned 1,875 square miles (4,850 km2) of forest land around the timber industry town of Peshtigo, Wisconsin, killing between 1,200 and 2,500 people. It was the deadliest fire in United States history.

 

From the 1870s to the 1890s, much of the logging in Wisconsin was done by immigrants from Scandinavia.

 

By the beginning of the twentieth century, logging in Wisconsin had gone into decline. Many forests had been cleared and never replanted and large corporations in the Pacific Northwest took business away from the Wisconsin industry. The logging companies sold their land to immigrants and out of work lumberjacks who hoped to turn the acres of pine stumps into farms, but few met with success.

 

Wisconsin is known in the 18th century to have discovered gold deposits in western Wisconsin. Such discoveries occurred around the town of St. Croix Falls where a settler stumbled across a gold nugget valued to be worth lots at the time. It's no surprise Wisconsin's western region was once the site of volcanic eruptions so it makes sense that minerals that weren't commonly found in other parts of the state would be present here.

 

Wisconsin was a regional and national model for innovation and organization in the Progressive Era in the early 20th century. The direct primary law of 1904 made it possible to mobilize voters against the previously dominant political machines. The first factors involved the La Follette family going back and forth between trying control of the Republican Party and third-party activity. Secondly the Wisconsin idea, of intellectuals and planners based

Its a long steep climb though thankfully with stairs to aid you make the journey to the castle, this photo shows the first few stairs, there are many more , many more before you reach the castle entrance .

 

I first visited Dunnottar Castle summer 2017, this magnificent castle sits high on a hill, last time I visited I captured my shots from the cliffs overlooking the site, though today I made the journey up the hill and entered the castle walls , wow what a magnificent experience, just perfect with loads of great photo opportunities to capture real Scottish history,after two hours wandering around and capturing as many shots that caught my eye , I made my way home, a magnificent experience indeed.

 

Dunnottar Castle (Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Fhoithear, "fort on the shelving slope" is a ruined medieval fortress located upon a rocky headland on the north-east coast of Scotland, about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) south of Stonehaven.

 

The surviving buildings are largely of the 15th and 16th centuries, but the site is believed to have been fortified in the Early Middle Ages. Dunnottar has played a prominent role in the history of Scotland through to the 18th-century Jacobite risings because of its strategic location and defensive strength. Dunnottar is best known as the place where the Honours of Scotland, the Scottish crown jewels, were hidden from Oliver Cromwell's invading army in the 17th century. The property of the Keiths from the 14th century, and the seat of the Earl Marischal, Dunnottar declined after the last Earl forfeited his titles by taking part in the Jacobite rebellion of 1715.

 

The castle was restored in the 20th century and is now open to the public.

 

The ruins of the castle are spread over 1.4 hectares (3.5 acres), surrounded by steep cliffs that drop to the North Sea, 50 metres (160 ft) below. A narrow strip of land joins the headland to the mainland, along which a steep path leads up to the gatehouse.

 

The various buildings within the castle include the 14th-century tower house as well as the 16th-century palace. Dunnottar Castle is a scheduled monument, and twelve structures on the site are listed buildings.

 

History

Early Middle Ages

A chapel at Dunnottar is said to have been founded by St Ninian in the 5th century, although it is not clear when the site was first fortified, but in any case the legend is late and highly implausible. Possibly the earliest written reference to the site is found in the Annals of Ulster which record two sieges of "Dún Foither" in 681 and 694.

 

The earlier event has been interpreted as an attack by Brude, the Pictish king of Fortriu, to extend his power over the north-east coast of Scotland. The Scottish Chronicle records that King Domnall II, the first ruler to be called rí Alban (King of Alba), was killed at Dunnottar during an attack by Vikings in 900. King Aethelstan of Wessex led a force into Scotland in 934, and raided as far north as Dunnottar according to the account of Symeon of Durham. W. D. Simpson speculated that a motte might lie under the present caste, but excavations in the 1980s failed to uncover substantive evidence of early medieval fortification.

 

The discovery of a group of Pictish stones at Dunnicaer, a nearby sea stack, has prompted speculation that "Dún Foither" was actually located on the adjacent headland of Bowduns, 0.5 kilometres (0.31 mi) to the north.

 

Later Middle Ages

During the reign of King William the Lion (ruled 1165–1214) Dunnottar was a center of local administration for The Mearns. The castle is named in the Roman de Fergus, an early 13th-century Arthurian romance, in which the hero Fergus must travel to Dunnottar to retrieve a magic shield.

 

In May 1276 a church on the site was consecrated by William Wishart, Bishop of St Andrews. The poet Blind Harry relates that William Wallace captured Dunnottar from the English in 1297, during the Wars of Scottish Independence. He is said to have imprisoned 4,000 defeated English soldiers in the church and burned them alive.

 

In 1336 Edward III of England ordered William Sinclair, 8th Baron of Roslin, to sail eight ships to the partially ruined Dunnottar for the purpose of rebuilding and fortifying the site as a forward resupply base for his northern campaign. Sinclair took with him 160 soldiers, horses, and a corps of masons and carpenters.

 

Edward himself visited in July, but the English efforts were undone before the end of the year when the Scottish Regent Sir Andrew Murray led a force that captured and again destroyed the defences of Dunnottar.

 

In the 14th century Dunnottar was granted to William de Moravia, 5th Earl of Sutherland (d.1370), and in 1346 a licence to crenellate was issued by David II. Around 1359 William Keith, Marischal of Scotland, married Margaret Fraser, niece of Robert the Bruce, and was granted the barony of Dunnottar at this time. Keith then gave the lands of Dunnottar to his daughter Christian and son-in-law William Lindsay of Byres, but in 1392 an excambion (exchange) was agreed whereby Keith regained Dunnottar and Lindsay took lands in Fife.

 

William Keith completed construction of the tower house at Dunnottar, but was excommunicated for building on the consecrated ground associated with the parish church. Keith had provided a new parish church closer to Stonehaven, but was forced to write to the Pope, Benedict XIII, who issued a bull in 1395 lifting the excommunication.William Keith's descendents were created Earls Marischal in the mid 15th century, and they held Dunottar until the 18th century.

 

16th century rebuilding

Through the 16th century the Keiths improved and expanded their principal seats: at Dunnottar and also at Keith Marischal in East Lothian. James IV visited Dunnottar in 1504, and in 1531 James V exempted the Earl's men from military service on the grounds that Dunnottar was one of the "principall strenthis of our realme".

 

Mary, Queen of Scots, visited in 1562 after the Battle of Corrichie, and returned in 1564.

 

James VI stayed for 10 days in 1580, as part of a progress through Fife and Angus, during which a meeting of the Privy Council was convened at Dunnottar.

 

During a rebellion of Catholic nobles in 1592, Dunnottar was captured by a Captain Carr on behalf of the Earl of Huntly, but was restored to Lord Marischal just a few weeks later.

 

In 1581 George Keith succeeded as 5th Earl Marischal, and began a large scale reconstruction that saw the medieval fortress converted into a more comfortable home. The founder of Marischal College in Aberdeen, the 5th Earl valued Dunnottar as much for its dramatic situation as for its security.

 

A "palace" comprising a series of ranges around a quadrangle was built on the north-eastern cliffs, creating luxurious living quarters with sea views. The 13th-century chapel was restored and incorporated into the quadrangle.

 

An impressive stone gatehouse was constructed, now known as Benholm's Lodging, featuring numerous gun ports facing the approach. Although impressive, these are likely to have been fashionable embellishments rather than genuine defensive features.

 

Civil wars

Further information: Scotland in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms

In 1639 William Keith, 7th Earl Marischal, came out in support of the Covenanters, a Presbyterian movement who opposed the established Episcopal Church and the changes which Charles I was attempting to impose. With James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, he marched against the Catholic James Gordon, 2nd Viscount Aboyne, Earl of Huntly, and defeated an attempt by the Royalists to seize Stonehaven. However, when Montrose changed sides to the Royalists and marched north, Marischal remained in Dunnottar, even when given command of the area by Parliament, and even when Montrose burned Stonehaven.

 

Marischal then joined with the Engager faction, who had made a deal with the king, and led a troop of horse to the Battle of Preston (1648) in support of the royalists.

 

Following the execution of Charles I in 1649, the Engagers gave their allegiance to his son and heir: Charles II was proclaimed king, arriving in Scotland in June 1650. He visited Dunnottar in July 1650, but his presence in Scotland prompted Oliver Cromwell to lead a force into Scotland, defeating the Scots at Dunbar in September 1650.

 

The Honours of Scotland

Charles II was crowned at Scone Palace on 1 January 1651, at which the Honours of Scotland (the regalia of crown, sword and sceptre) were used. However, with Cromwell's troops in Lothian, the honours could not be returned to Edinburgh. The Earl Marischal, as Marischal of Scotland, had formal responsibility for the honours, and in June the Privy Council duly decided to place them at Dunnottar.

 

They were brought to the castle by Katherine Drummond, hidden in sacks of wool. Sir George Ogilvie (or Ogilvy) of Barras was appointed lieutenant-governor of the castle, and given responsibility for its defence.

 

In November 1651 Cromwell's troops called on Ogilvie to surrender, but he refused. During the subsequent blockade of the castle, the removal of the Honours of Scotland was planned by Elizabeth Douglas, wife of Sir George Ogilvie, and Christian Fletcher, wife of James Granger, minister of Kinneff Parish Church. The king's papers were first removed from the castle by Anne Lindsay, a kinswoman of Elizabeth Douglas, who walked through the besieging force with the papers sewn into her clothes.

 

Two stories exist regarding the removal of the honours themselves. Fletcher stated in 1664 that over the course of three visits to the castle in February and March 1652, she carried away the crown, sceptre, sword and sword-case hidden amongst sacks of goods. Another account, given in the 18th century by a tutor to the Earl Marischal, records that the honours were lowered from the castle onto the beach, where they were collected by Fletcher's servant and carried off in a creel (basket) of seaweed. Having smuggled the honours from the castle, Fletcher and her husband buried them under the floor of the Old Kirk at Kinneff.

 

Meanwhile, by May 1652 the commander of the blockade, Colonel Thomas Morgan, had taken delivery of the artillery necessary for the reduction of Dunnottar. Ogilvie surrendered on 24 May, on condition that the garrison could go free. Finding the honours gone, the Cromwellians imprisoned Ogilvie and his wife in the castle until the following year, when a false story was put about suggesting that the honours had been taken overseas.

 

Much of the castle property was removed, including twenty-one brass cannons,[28] and Marischal was required to sell further lands and possessions to pay fines imposed by Cromwell's government.

 

At the Restoration of Charles II in 1660, the honours were removed from Kinneff Church and returned to the king. Ogilvie quarrelled with Marischal's mother over who would take credit for saving the honours, though he was eventually rewarded with a baronetcy. Fletcher was awarded 2,000 merks by Parliament but the sum was never paid.

  

Whigs and Jacobites

Religious and political conflicts continued to be played out at Dunnottar through the 17th and early 18th centuries. In 1685, during the rebellion of the Earl of Argyll against the new king James VII, 167 Covenanters were seized and held in a cellar at Dunnottar. The prisoners included 122 men and 45 women associated with the Whigs, an anti-Royalist group within the Covenanter movement, and had refused to take an oath of allegiance to the new king.

 

The Whigs were imprisoned from 24 May until late July. A group of 25 escaped, although two of these were killed in a fall from the cliffs, and another 15 were recaptured. Five prisoners died in the vault, and 37 of the Whigs were released after taking the oath of allegiance.

 

The remaining prisoners were transported to Perth Amboy, New Jersey, as part of a colonisation scheme devised by George Scot of Pitlochie. Many, like Scot himself, died on the voyage.

 

The cellar, located beneath the "King's Bedroom" in the 16th-century castle buildings, has since become known as the "Whigs' Vault".

 

Both the Jacobites (supporters of the exiled Stuarts) and the Hanoverians (supporters of George I and his descendents) used Dunnottar Castle. In 1689 during Viscount Dundee's campaign in support of the deposed James VII, the castle was garrisoned for William and Mary with Lord Marischal appointed captain.

 

Seventeen suspected Jacobites from Aberdeen were seized and held in the fortress for around three weeks, including George Liddell, professor of mathematics at Marischal College.

 

In the Jacobite Rising of 1715 George Keith, 10th Earl Marischal, took an active role with the rebels, leading cavalry at the Battle of Sheriffmuir. After the subsequent abandonment of the rising Lord Marischal fled to the Continent, eventually becoming French ambassador for Frederick the Great of Prussia. Meanwhile, in 1716, his titles and estates including Dunnottar were declared forfeit to the crown.

 

Later history

The seized estates of the Earl Marischal were purchased in 1720 for £41,172, by the York Buildings Company who dismantled much of the castle.

 

In 1761 the Earl briefly returned to Scotland and bought back Dunnottar only to sell it five years later to Alexander Keith, an Edinburgh lawyer who served as Knight Marischal of Scotland.

 

Dunnottar was inherited in 1852 by Sir Patrick Keith-Murray of Ochtertyre, who in turn sold it in July 1873 to Major Alexander Innes of Cowie and Raemoir for about £80,000.

 

It was purchased by Weetman Pearson, 1st Viscount Cowdray, in 1925 after which his wife embarked on a programme of repairs.

 

Since that time the castle has remained in the family, and has been open to the public, attracting 52,500 visitors in 2009.

 

Dunnottar Castle, and the headland on which is stands, was designated as a scheduled monument in 1970.In 1972 twelve of the structures at Dunnottar were listed.

 

Three buildings are listed at category A as being of "national importance": the keep; the entrance gateway; and Benholm's Lodging.

 

The remaining listings are at category B as being of "regional importance".[39] The Hon. Charles Anthony Pearson, the younger son of the 3rd Viscount Cowdray, currently owns and runs Dunnottar Castle which is part of the 210-square-kilometre (52,000-acre) Dunecht Estates.

 

Portions of the 1990 film Hamlet, starring Mel Gibson and Glenn Close, were shot there.

  

Description

Dunnottar's strategic location allowed its owners to control the coastal terrace between the North Sea cliffs and the hills of the Mounth, 3.5 kilometres (2.2 mi) inland, which enabled access to and from the north-east of Scotland.

 

The site is accessed via a steep, 800-metre (2,600 ft) footpath (with modern staircases) from a car park on the coastal road, or via a 3-kilometre (1.9 mi) cliff-top path from Stonehaven. Dunnottar's several buildings, put up between the 13th and 17th centuries, are arranged across a headland covering around 1.4 hectares (3.5 acres).

 

The dominant building, viewed from the land approach, is the 14th-century keep or tower house. The other principal buildings are the gatehouse; the chapel; and the 16th-century "palace" which incorporates the "Whigs' Vault".

 

Defences

The approach to the castle is overlooked by outworks on the "Fiddle Head", a promontory on the western side of the headland. The entrance is through the well-defended main gate, set in a curtain wall which entirely blocks a cleft in the rocky cliffs.

 

The gate has a portcullis and has been partly blocked up. Alongside the main gate is the 16th-century Benholm's Lodging, a five-storey building cut into the rock, which incorporated a prison with apartments above.

 

Three tiers of gun ports face outwards from the lower floors of Benholm's Lodging, while inside the main gate, a group of four gun ports face the entrance. The entrance passage then turns sharply to the left, running underground through two tunnels to emerge near the tower house.

 

Simpson contends that these defences are "without exception the strongest in Scotland", although later writers have doubted the effectiveness of the gun ports. Cruden notes that the alignment of the gun ports in Benholm's Lodging, facing across the approach rather than along, means that they are of limited efficiency.

 

The practicality of the gun ports facing the entrance has also been questioned, though an inventory of 1612 records that four brass cannons were placed here.

 

A second access to the castle leads up from a rocky cove, the aperture to a marine cave on the northern side of the Dunnottar cliffs into which a small boat could be brought. From here a steep path leads to the well-fortified postern gate on the cliff top, which in turn offers access to the castle via the Water Gate in the palace.

 

Artillery defences, taking the form of earthworks, surround the north-west corner of the castle, facing inland, and the south-east, facing seaward. A small sentry box or guard house stands by the eastern battery, overlooking the coast.

 

Tower house and surrounding buildings

The tower house of Dunnottar, viewed from the west

The late 14th-century tower house has a stone-vaulted basement, and originally had three further storeys and a garret above.

 

Measuring 12 by 11 metres (39 by 36 ft), the tower house stood 15 metres (49 ft) high to its gable. The principal rooms included a great hall and a private chamber for the lord, with bedrooms upstairs.

 

Beside the tower house is a storehouse, and a blacksmith's forge with a large chimney. A stable block is ranged along the southern edge of the headland. Nearby is Waterton's Lodging, also known as the Priest's House, built around 1574, possibly for the use of William Keith (died 1580), son of the 4th Earl Marischal.

 

This small self-contained house includes a hall and kitchen at ground level, with private chambers above, and has a projecting spiral stair on the north side. It is named for Thomas Forbes of Waterton, an attendant of the 7th Earl.

 

The palace

The palace, to the north-east of the headland, was built in the late 16th century and early to mid-17th century. It comprises three main wings set out around a quadrangle, and for the most part is probably the work of the 5th Earl Marischal who succeeded in 1581.

 

It provided extensive and comfortable accommodation to replace the rooms in the tower house. In its long, low design it has been compared to contemporary English buildings, in contrast to the Scottish tradition of taller towers still prevalent in the 16th century.

 

Seven identical lodgings are arranged along the west range, each opening onto the quadrangle and including windows and fireplace. Above the lodgings the west range comprised a 35-metre (115 ft) gallery. Now roofless, the gallery originally had an elaborate oak ceiling, and on display was a Roman tablet taken from the Antonine Wall.

 

At the north end of the gallery was a drawing room linked to the north range. The gallery could also be accessed from the Silver House to the south, which incorporated a broad stairway with a treasury above.

 

The basement of the north range incorporates kitchens and stores, with a dining room and great chamber above. At ground floor level is the Water Gate, between the north and west ranges, which gives access to the postern on the northern cliffs.

 

The east and north ranges are linked via a rectangular stair. The east range has a larder, brewhouse and bakery at ground level, with a suite of apartments for the Countess above. A north-east wing contains the Earl's apartments, and includes the "King's Bedroom" in which Charles II stayed. In this room is a carved stone inscribed with the arms of the 7th Earl and his wife, and the date 1654. Below these rooms is the Whigs' Vault, a cellar measuring 16 by 4.5 metres (52 by 15 ft). This cellar, in which the Covenanters were held in 1685, has a large eastern window, as well as a lower vault accessed via a trap-door in the floor.

 

Of the chambers in the palace, only the dining room and the Silver House remain roofed, having been restored in the 1920s. The central area contains a circular cistern or fish pond, 16 metres (52 ft) across and 7.6 metres (25 ft) deep, and a bowling green is located to the west.

 

At the south-east corner of the quadrangle is the chapel, consecrated in 1276 and largely rebuilt in the 16th century. Medieval walling and two 13th-century windows remain, and there is a graveyard to the south.

Anoraks abound at the Kings Cross platform end, plus half-mast trousers. In a modern context, the title is oxymoronic, but I am not going to repeat cheap jokes in the well-mined sphere of rail enthusiasts’ alleged lack of sartorial flair. Had I taken an equivalent view some 10-15 years earlier, the boys would have been dressed in their school uniforms.

 

The notion of smart casual clothing for younger people was slow to evolve, and family budgets remained tight at the time of this view. Forget designer labels…Growing up back then, you wore what your parents got you, like it or not. Practicality ruled over style.

 

I wonder if any Flickrite recognises himself from this scene? Perhaps he has a record of the Class 47 in the view? I never did note its identity. I am guessing that the loco’s 1N10 headcode depicts a KX-Newcastle service.

 

March 1974

Zorki 4 camera

Agfa CT18 film.

Photographed in Cyberjaya, Malaysia

 

Assembly : Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia

 

Notes : Rear muffler is non-standard. Missing some badges at the back and on the front fenders.

 

The Proton Putra is a very special Proton; it's the only 2-door / coupé from the company, and it will likely hold on to that title for the foreseeable future. In a country where practicality often matters more than style, Proton sure did surprise many when they unveiled the rather good-looking Putra a couple of years after the launch of the Wira, not forgetting the 3-door Satria hatch as well. At the time, the Putra was the sportiest Proton in the fleet, at least until the Satria GTi came along much later in 1998.

 

The Putra is pretty much indistinguishable from a high-specced Wira or Satria from the front, but from the side, it's immediately obvious that it's something else... but it's the rear end of the Putra which really stands out. The sleek lines and flowing curves made a huge statement back in the mid-1990s, it was without a doubt the best looking and most attractive Proton yet. Nonetheless, the Putra is and was for the most part... understated, unassuming and elegant. It didn't scream '' Hey, look at me, I'm a big bad sports car ! '' unlike its cousin, the Satria GTi. And it's not like the Putra didn't have the muscle either, the sole 1.8-litre Mitsubishi 4G93 DOHC 16-valve 4-cylinder had 138 bhp and 164 Nm of torque at its disposal, and it did the 0 to 100 km/h run in 9 seconds... not bad for mid-90s Proton eh ?

 

Proton produced the Putra between 1995 and 2000, which is unjustified when compared to the Wira's long 1993 to 2007 lifespan. However, Proton resurrected the Putra in 2004/05 with a limited edition run, supposedly to clear out the remaining factory stock. Proton sold the Putra as the Proton M21 in Australia, the Proton Coupe in the United Kingdom, as well as the Proton 418 LRS in Germany and several other European countries. Putras exported to Europe and Australia were fitted with twin foglights on the rear license plate bracket.

 

You'd be hard pressed to find a stock, unmodified and well-maintained Putra in Malaysia. Almost every Putra here has been modified to some extent, and the example above is no exception. Fortunately, the owner seems to have swapped out the rear muffler, and perhaps given his/her car a new coat of paint. Several badges are missing as well, but otherwise, she's as good as new !

 

I LIKE : Looks awesome. Dat ass. Cornering lights. Rarity & exclusivity. Pretty good power-to-weight ratio. Later versions were tuned by Lotus, and handled very well. Early units were bulletproof ( very reliable ).

 

I DISLIKE : Exported units were better specified and built. Later units were less reliable. Ricers... ricers everywhere !

The Magician, The Magus, or The Juggler is the first trump or Major Arcana card in most traditional Tarot decks. In divination it is considered by some to succeed the The Fool card, often numbered 0. In French, the Magician is called Le Bateleur, "the mountebank" or the "sleight of hand artist", a practitioner of stage magic.

 

The curves of the magician's hat (here, no hat, just the curve) brim in the Marseilles image are similar to the esoteric deck's mathematical sign of infinity. Similarly, other symbols were added. The essentials are that the magician has set up a temporary table outdoors, to display items that represent the suits of the Minor Arcana:

The Goblet - symbol of Hearts, represents emotions, the love, the heart things.

Coins - symbol of Diamonds, represents the material world, money, belongings.

The knive - symbol of Swords, represents the fight, power, victory, sexual energy.

The baton - symbol of Clubs, represents wisdom and willing.

 

Some schools associate him with Hermes, especially Hermes Trismegistus, a syncretic Egyptian/Greek figure who is a combination of Hermes and of Thot, a god of the moon, knowledge, and writing. In this aspect, The Magician guides The Fool through the first step out of the cave of childhood into the sunlight of consciousness, just as Hermes guides Persephone out of the Underworld every year. He represents the potential of a new adventure, chosen or thrust upon on, the journey undertaken in daylight. He brings things out of the darkness into the light, he explores the world in order to master it. He is solar consciousness.

 

Keywords:

 

Action — Consciousness — Concentration — Personal power - Practicality — Energy — Creativity — Movement - Precision — Conviction — Manipulation — Self confidence - Being objective — Focusing — Determination — Initiative.

 

Learn more.

 

O Mago.

El Mago.

Le Bateleur.

 

Many thanks:

model

dress

goblet and sword

table

Texture Avocado Grunge by Pareé Erica

Texture Universia by me.

Coins and sky by me.

Syracuse

Tetradrachm signed by Kimon circa 405-400, AR 16.90 g. Head of Arethusa facing three-quarters l., wearing pearl-shaped pendant and necklace over collier ornamented with pearls; hair flowing in loose tresses; across her forehead, ampyx, on which the signature KIMΩN. Around, two dolphins swimming among the locks and a snout of a third emerging from curls l. Above, outside dotted border, APEΘOΣA. Rev. ΣYPAK – OΣIΩN Fast quadriga driven l. by chiton-clad charioteer, holding kentron and reins; above, Nike floating r., holding wreath to crown the charioteer. Beneath the two further horses, an overset column (meta); in exergue, ear of barley l. Rizzo pl. XLVIII, 10 (this obverse die). Gulbenkian 292 (these dies). Kraay-Hirmer 122 (this obverse die) and 123 (this reverse die). Kunstwerke der Antike F60 (this coin). Schefold WM 492 (this coin). Tudeer 79 (these dies).

 

Extremely rare and undoubtedly the finest specimen known. The greatest masterpiece of Greek numismatic art and work of the most talented master-engraver of the period. In our opinion the most beautiful Greek coin in private hands. Of sublime style, struck in high relief on a very broad flan and perfectly centred, wonderful old cabinet tone and good extremely fine

 

Ex Leu sale 76, 1999, 57 (illustrated on the cover page). From the collection of Robert Käppeli (purchased before 1960).

 

Though the facing-head portrait eventually became familiar at Amphipolis, Larissa, Rhodes and Tarsus in the 4th and 3rd Centuries B.C., it seldom was attempted in the West. The few facing-head dies from Sicily are acknowledged masterpieces, including this phenomenal work of Kimon, whose Arethusa Soteira, became a model for artists throughout the Mediterranean. The richness of this artist’s work cannot be overstated, for the style and composition of this coin is essentially perfect. The details of the Arethusa’s portrait are richly engraved, with their impact being intensified by the playful dolphins that dart through the floating strands of hair in the surrounding water. Katherine Erhart, in her dissertation on facing head Greek coins, offers praise: “...the master-engraver Kimon created a facing head of the fountain nymph, which is easily the most beautiful coin of all time, one applauded by ancient die-engravers and modern critics alike. ... No other engraver before or since has so magnificently exploited the compositional potential of the small circular coin flan.” The combination of the obverse depicting ‘Arethusa the Saviour,’ a reverse dedicated to a victorious charioteer, and the innovative and remarkable quality of the dies, earmarks this as a commemorative issue. As such, it has been associated with the defeat of the Athenian fleet at Syracuse in 413 B.C. and with the good fate of the Syracusans in the otherwise devastating Carthaginian invasion of Sicily in 406/5 B.C. This issue broke with about a century of Syracusan tradition by using this portrait as the obverse rather than the reverse. This decision probably was rooted in practicality since the reverse die is more vulnerable as it absorbs the full energy of the hammer blow. Just a few years earlier one of the two facing-head reverse dies engraved by Eucleidas (Tudeer reverse die 37) developed a fatal crack beneath Athena’s chin that widened with each successive strike. This must have guided Kimon’s decision. However, after Kimon’s ambitious facing-head the portrait on tetradrachms at Syracuse returned to being shown in profile on the reverse die. Indeed, it was not until Agathocles revived the tetradrachm at Syracuse toward the end of the 4th Century that the head became the obverse, in keeping with other Greek mints of the era. Kimon’s work for this issue consists of two obverse and two reverse dies. Both obverses were used with both reverses, and none of the four dies was used with any other die – all further evidence that this was a stand-alone series made for a special occasion. Considering the effort expended by Kimon, it is worth commenting on the relative merits of his four dies, three of which he signed. Both obverse dies are masterful and unique creations, but if the more accomplished must be chosen it would be Tudeer’s die 28, the one used to strike this coin. The portrait on that die is more mature and focused than the one of Tudeer 29, where Arethusa’s gaze is engaging, yet tentative. Both have equally playful arrangements of the dolphins, but on this die they are cut deeply and boldly, whereas on die 29 they are softly engraved, almost as if they were an afterthought. Die 29, however, is of greater academic interest, for it bears the inscription SW (abbreviating SWTEIPA, ‘saviour’ or ‘deliverer’) cleverly hidden in the curls of Arethusa’s hair. Both reverse dies show a quadriga in high action, viewed at a slight angle. They represent momentary snapshots of a victorious team turning the bend as the charioteer attempts to contain the collective power of his team. The reverse dies are so different in their arrangements that it is impossible to make a choice on merit alone, and we might conclude that they are equally accomplished. The die used to strike this coin, Tudeers 54, is lively and powerful, yet it still possesses a sense of formality that is amplified by the unusual, upright posture of Nike, who advances toward the driver. The heads of the horses toss about in a precise arrangement that by this time had become canonical at Syracuse: the outermost horses maintain relatively controlled postures as the heads of the interior horses toss about wildly. The placement of a fallen meta (turning post) beneath the horses only adds to the drama of the scene. Kimon’s other reverse die for the series, Tudeer 53, presents a more volatile scene. The driver, with goad engaged, is being tested by his team, which rears back with great force, perhaps because the charioteer has demanded something unexpected. Undisturbed by the chaos below, Nike floats calmly above, reaching out to crown the driver. We may note that on this signed die the artist delights in showing the hooves of the lead horse breaking through the linear border. When composing his note on this coin for its appearance in Leu 76, Dr. Alan Walker remarked: “It could well be that in 1787 it was a facing-head Kimon Tetradrachm like this one, a coin which we know was in the Torremuzza collection, that inspired Goethe to his rhapsodies over the fresh beauty of coins, as compared to the dusty ruins visible in the countryside.”

 

NAC77, 17

the thought of the chapter that begins next week has for so long only brought me trepidation. have i done everything i've wanted to do? will i look upon this period of time and regret that i did not make the most of it? did i forfeit a certain happiness that comes from chasing naive dreams as a 20-something, the curse of my practicality and aversion to risk?

 

possibly. and yet - i am surprisingly calm about the matter (at long last) and - dare I say it - ready. or nearly so. yes - nearly.

I am soooooo pleased with how this dress came out. I used the Oliver and S Playdate Dress pattern and this was my first crack at it, and It went very well, no problems. I have to thank Nicole for her great tutorial on making this dress that I used the entire time and also for her great idea of adding a tab instead of the ruffles and buttons on the front yoke. So I used Berry kona cotton with Heather Ross Far Far Away I double gauze flowers as the yoke (with a kona white lining) and Bubble Gum kona cotton as the piping and accent color. I added a tab on the front left yoke with an embroidered flower to match the HR print. I love the beauty of this little dress, the practicality of the pockets and the pleats in the sleeves and on the dress that create beautiful dimension in the solid berry. Maybe next I can snap a picture of Lucy wearing it :)

MLTC's Newport Workshops project finally came together at Brickvention 2024.

 

Dating from the 1880s, the Newport Workshops were the main workshops of the Victorian Railways. Puffing Billy’s NA locomotives and the Spirit of Progress were both built there.

It is now one of the best-preserved 19th century railway workshops in the world.

 

The LEGO® model features the historic East and West Blocks, Clock Tower and Water Tower. West Block is nows home to preservation groups such as Steamrail Victoria while East Block is used for storage.

 

The LEGO® model is a club project of the Melbourne L-Gauge Train Club.

 

Some compromises have been made for practicality, for example the East block sheds have 2 tracks per shed, instead of 3.

 

The display contains around 270,000 LEGO bricks.

On the set of the dystopian science-fiction movie Ready Player One, being filmed around the western parts of Birmingham City Centre. For the duration of the film, the city centre has been decked out to look like the horrifying future of 2044 Ohio, with burning oil drums, graffiti on the walls (which already had graffiti on them!) and a selection of old vehicles from both Europe and America which have been battered and broken to resemble the results of years of neglect and vandalism.

 

The vehicle demonstrated here is once again externally beaten up but internally pristine, it being one of the rare and ambiguous Renault Avantime's, among one of my favourite cars!

 

Oh how I wished this car had succeeded, but sadly has gone down in the annuls of history as one of the biggest automotive failures of the 21st Century, largely due to what it is, a Coupé MPV.

 

The Renault Avantime was the company's attempt at marrying the sporty looks and charms of a luxury coupé with the size and practicality of an MPV (Multi-Purpose Vehicle), or as we Brits like to call them, 'People Carriers'. The Avantime was built onto the same platform as Renault's pioneering People Carrier the Espace, which is widely considered the first and greatest of the People Carriers, making its début in 1984. The biggest problem with People Carriers, and the Espace is no exception, is that they are unbelievably uncool, being for all intents and purposes vans with electric windows, and chocked full of as many seats as possible so as to cram in all the relatives you need for the day. Renault hoped to change this by making a luxury version known as the Avantime, a word in direct translation meaning 'Ahead Time' or 'Ahead of Time'.

 

Design of the Avantime began back in 1998, being conceived by Renault's affiliate Matra and the head of its automotive division Philippe Guédon. Styling was carried out by world famous motoring designer Patrick Le Quément, and upon the car's release in 1999 at the Geneva Auto Show, people couldn't help but be astounded by its ways. Unlike other People Carriers, there were only five seats for extra legroom and space, and no central pillar dividing the cabin, with just one long window and door on the car's profile. This was an early point of contention as there were concerns for safety without the all-important pillar for structural rigidity. This was overcome with a much stronger structure supporting the roof. The doors themselves were another point of interest as they were double-hinged, which meant that rather than the door opening for miles, it could slide forward in its mounting so it would only open to the width of a regular car door, but could still provide access to the rear without putting the front seats down. The biggest party piece of them all though was the Avantime's ability to open all windows and the giant Sunroof simultaneously, giving the feel of driving a drop-top coupé. Power was also pretty good, coming in the form of Renault's 24 valve, 207hp 3.0L V6 engine.

 

Upon its launch in 2001, the car was still lauded critically for its brilliant design and attempts to marry sports and speed with the size of a People Carrier, but didn't actually sell. The problem is the car fell in between two categories. The idea of a coupé car is that it's meant to look sporty and sheek, and the idea of a People Carrier is to cram in as many people as is humanly possible. The Avantime failed to meet both these criteria, looking not especially sporty, and not having the capacity of a regular MPV. The result was that the Avantime absolutely tanked in terms of sales, not helped by the launch of the Renault Vel Satis, a similarly sized 5-door family car which was built more to the proportions of an Estate car that was more upmarket than the Espace, Modus or Scenic People Carriers.

 

The result was that the Matra division folded after suffering massive losses on building the Avantime, and thus their factory was closed. Renault chose instead not to move production elsewhere and decided it would rather just kill off this bad egg rather than suffer any more pain. In 2003, the Avantime's time ran out, with only 8,557 units built. Here in the UK it was only sold in the petrol version and was on the market for a grand total of 18 months before being removed from sales with 435 examples leaving the showroom.

 

Opinion on the Avantime since its discontinuation have been mixed. While many put it down as one of the worst failures in automotive history, and even so far as to dub it the worst car ever made, most critics and the few owners who actually bought one declare it to be an automotive marvel, thinking outside the box and technically innovate in more ways than one. The most notable critics to acclaim the Avantime are Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond of the late, great Top Gear, who noted it as one of only three cars they all unanimously like, the other two being the Ford Mondeo and Subaru Legacy. In fact the Avantime re-entered a few minutes of fame when one appeared on the show in 2008, where they were given two days and a budget of £9,800 to get their plucky Renault to lap the Top Gear test track as fast as a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X. Eventually, after tuning the engine, removing the seats, fitting track-ready tyres, adding a spoiler just to remove it, and adding a chin-spoiler just so it could catch fire, they eventually did the lap and it was as expected, hopeless rubbish, but the Avantime was the overall winner in that since then it's really kicked off a cult following.

 

Today they are incredibly rare cars here on the roads of Britain. In France you'll probably find a fair few as that's where the majority were sold, but other than that they're touch birds to follow.

Age 14, you are highly impressionable. At 14, despite not being a 'grown-up' or having kids, I still thought the W124 Estate model was pretty much the perfect one-car-only vehicle you could buy. Not that I could buy one at 14.

 

Launched in 1985, the W124 was the newest mid-range Mercedes-Benz at the time. It built upon the reputation for quality, practicality, and durability of its W123 forebears. The car is very sensible, and displays very little 'flash' - nonetheless they still look very handsome today.

 

In TE Wagon form the W124 also added the practicality of a rear-facing third-row seating. Along with economical diesel engines, and frugal petrol engines, the model was ideal family transport.

 

At 14, I was on an educational holiday to West Germany. Family transport for the people I was in included two rented W124 Sedans. A wagon, with extra seats and a bigger engine (and even 4-Matic, electronic all-wheel-drive) was pretty much as good a car as you would ever have the need to own.

E36/7

 

Bonhams

Les Grandes Marques du Monde à Paris

The Grand Palais Éphémère

Place Joffre

Parijs - Paris

Frankrijk - France

February 2023

 

Estimated : € 35.000 - 45.000

Sold for € 57.500

 

A brilliant exercise in 'retro' styling that recalled its fabulous '328' sports car of pre-war days, BMW's Z3 was introduced in 1996. The original four-cylinder 1.9-litre Z3 was more of a stylish boulevard cruiser than out-and-out sports car, a successful concept, and would prove equally appealing to both men and women drivers. The arrival of the 2.8-litre six-cylinder engine in 1997 transformed the Z3, endowing it with a level of performance that at last matched the promise of its looks. Six-cylinder cars enjoyed a lengthier equipment list than the 'fours', which included an electric hood (roadster), leather upholstery, and 16" alloy wheels.

 

The first M-Power Z3 appeared in January 1997. Built until February 2001 when the model was revised, the first-series Z3 M Coupé and Roadster were powered by the 3.2-litre S50 engine producing 316hp and 236lb/ft of torque - figures that translated into a tyre-smoking 0-100km/h time of 5.2 seconds and a top speed of 248km/h. The fastest-accelerating BMW ever at the time of its introduction, the Z3M boasted a generous specification that included electric windows, ABS, PAS, air conditioning, heated seats, driver/passenger air bags, six-speaker stereo system, alarm/immobiliser, heated exterior mirrors, 17" alloy wheels, and a limited-slip differential as standard. Combining outrageous looks and performance with impressive practicality, the Z3M was not replaced within BMW's line-up after its deletion in 2002 and is surely destined for 'highly collectible' status in the future.

 

This Z3 M Roadster was built in October 1996 (official production would not start until 1997) and is one of only 25 pre-production press or test cars. Only seven of this batch were finished in 'Evergreen'; most of them were 'Imolarot' or 'Estoril Blau' (nine were red, seven green, and nine blue). Boasting two-tone Walk Nappa/Evergreen leather interior, chassis number 'LD20069' is believed to be the first 'Evergreen' Z3 M Roadster built. As a special option in the list we find 'Sonderkontrolle Pressefahrzeuge', referring to the special inspection for press vehicles that was carried out at BMW. The BMW Archivist has confirmed in an email the production details of this 'pre-production' example, which include a 25% differential lock.

 

This car was registered new to BMW M GmbH on 6th November 1996 with the registration plate 'M-RC1584' and was reregistered only a month later to Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft (BMW AG) on the same registration plate. The car remained with BMW up to 2000, when it was sold to Sweden with 15,000 kilometres recorded.

 

A printout of the BMW service history shows that the car was regularly serviced, and that since it moved to Sweden covered between 10,000 and 15,000 kilometres per year. By 2015, when it moved to the current owner in Belgium, the BMW had covered 86,000 kilometres. Since then it has scarcely been driven but regular servicing has been maintained: 2016 (90,033km) up to 2021 (94,509km) by a BMW specialist. Clearly well looked after, the car is in lovely condition both inside and out.

 

BMW's proven S50 3.0-litre six-cylinder engine in an extremely light car makes for an exciting combination. Magnificent, strong, reliable, light and fun, this beautiful BMW Z3 M is certain to delight the fortunate next owner.

6x6 CGA

 

7 month old contrasty collodion, could have done with a half stop more, but 8 seconds was getting to his limit to not blink too much. Did the handling in my DIY Dark Box in doors to test practicality and light tightness. Seems to work well...outside will be tougher.

  

Done in Ai, Finalized in Photoshop

 

Beneath a violet-tinged sky where the light of a colossal planet bleeds across the horizon, a lone astronaut stands poised on alien ground. The terrain is cracked and glowing with veins of molten pink lava, painting the landscape in a surreal glow that pulses like the beat of a sleeping world. Jagged mountains loom in the distance, shrouded in mist, their silhouettes breaking the dreamlike haze.

 

The astronaut’s suit is a seamless fusion of vintage NASA-era design and sleek cyberpunk augmentation — matte black armored plating with glowing violet conduits running through its joints and seams. Neon accents pulse along the limbs and chest in rhythmic intervals, as if synced with a distant signal. The helmet is smooth and fully reflective, tinted with a dark chrome finish, casting back distorted reflections of the strange, breathtaking world before them.

 

Wires, tubes, and compact tech modules wrap the figure's silhouette, balanced between practicality and aesthetic — a traveler engineered for survival, style, and mystery. The atmosphere flickers with static and glowing embers, and the astronaut stands not as a visitor, but as if answering a call — drawn to something ancient, buried, or awakening beneath the surface of Echo-7.

Taken August 28, 2015.

 

Storm: Aug. 16, 1999 - Sept. 8, 2015.

 

We said our final good-byes to Storm last afternoon. She was hurting pretty bad, although she really wouldn't let on. I went back and forth, and just when I thought it was time, then she would bounce back a little bit. Her right hip was so gone (or nerves in there) that she could hardly use that leg, yet she still walked and walked, and every week, sometimes twice a week we would go to the therapy clinic and she would walk underwater on a treadmill, and then after I'd take her and a couple of the goofballs over to the river and she would just plod along with us.

 

So I took her over to the clinic last afternoon and it was a beautiful Autumn day, mid-60s, blue skies like Stormy's eyes. Dr. Olson came out and gave her the first shot, Storm walked about after that and did a couple of figure eights around some picnic tables before coming over to me, sitting on the ground the whole time I was, and she laid down beside me with her head almost in my lap and I talked nice to her and sang her little jingle song, and pet her and we stared in each other's eyes, and she fell asleep and woke up a couple of times and she seemed the total opposite of agitated, she seemed very at peace and ready to let go. So at least that kind of made me feel good. Then Dr. O came out with the stethoscope around her neck and second syringe, that sick pink fluid that I hate the sight of. And Storm left, she didn't twitch or anything. We gathered her old body up and Dr. Olson put her in the back of the car because I'm not supposed to lift anything because of my shoulder.

 

I drove home with her and my young friend Kira was just finishing digging the hole, because I'm not supposed to dig because of my bum shoulder, and Kira had dug a really deep hole with perfectly vertical sides, like she is some kind of archaeologist. I haven't put Stormy down in the hole yet, I think I'm going to need Kira's help. And I will not completely bury her, but leave room above for one or two more dogs. A practicality - although it may seem odd or morbid to some.

 

So that is four dogs I've said good-bye to this summer, Cracker, Ruby, Pepsi and now Storm-Storm. All good dogs, all my friends. It doesn't really get any easier, each with their own unique being.

 

I am hugely comforted by those left behind, especially Toaster's puppies, Sadie, Salty, Cholie and Frodo - they are so calm and affectionate as these old huskies tend to be. And the youngsters, so energetic and silly and happy, as young huskies tend to be.

 

Forgive my long writing here. I wrote this, slightly modified, as an email to my friend John*Dawson - he sort of had a thing for Stormy. I know many of you understand, and sharing like this with like minded people is one of the best things about Flickr.

 

Thank you all for following us.

 

Circa 1977. Dr. Walter Edelman Jr., Mechanical Engineering professor is shown next to a Ford Falcon on the dynamometer that's located between E3 ad E4. I'm unsure why Dr. Edelman wore coveralls while the assisting technicians bore regular street clothes.

 

A student favorite, Dr. Edelman was not only a competent instructor, but one who enjoyed conversing with his students about many topics. He had keen observations about technical matters that he conveyed to us. For example, during one of our Engineering Day open house events, there was on display a Honda Civic station wagon that had its entire roof covered with a panel full of solar electric cells. Of course the car generated wide interest among guests at the open house. Later on that week during class, Dr. Edelman discussed the practicality of that system to generate power for the car. On the chalkboard he wrote down a generous estimation of the square footage of the solar panels. He then multiplied that area by the maximum specific rate of solar energy that reaches the earth per unit area. To be generous again, he assumed 100% conversion from solar to electrical energy (a thermodynamic impossibility, but again, this was a calculation for demonstration purposes). The result of the calculation was that at best, the solar panel could only generate a fraction of one horsepower. Thus powering even a light weight car such as that Honda Civic exclusively on real time generated power was far from being realistic.

 

The Falcon displays a California plate with the letter 'E' inscribed within a diamond shape, for vehicles that would be Exempt from registration fees.

Here at bullseye, we understand your need for rapid fire face destruction in case somebody breaks into your house and attempts to steal your food, so we have designed the Bullseye®! Velocity!

 

Created to have an extremely high fire rate while still having the Bullseye® signature disregard for practicality, making it a great home defense weapon as you shoot at an intruder from the hip like the untrained house defending professional that you are likely to be! and as always, the Bullseye® Velocity comes with the Bullseye® guarantee!* and for the low rate** of 1500 a month for 2 years, the Velocity can be yours. and don't forget to invest in the bullseye accidental weapon failure insurance for 500 credits a month for 4 years!

 

*if your firearm fails to extinguish an intruders face and you get shot, causing mental disabilities, just write us a hand-written letter*** and we will refund your Bullseye® Velocity.

** not really a low rate

***must be at least 12**** pages and 10,000***** words long in order to receive any refunds and/or compensation

****front AND back, you lazy shit.

*****words must be at least 5 letters long in order to be counted.

 

text and cropping done in paint

I'm not sure of the practicality of those massive wheels, but it does at least have a unique look, and is an interesting follow up to the more famous (and perhaps more realistic) Polar Battle Bear.

 

I'm not planning to build every last Joe vehicle ever, but I do have a mid-term goal to build all the arctic vehicles, so that I can do more outdoor dios in the winter.

Coimbra University, Portugal.

 

"One of the most visible and distinctive traditions is the use of the academic costume of the University of Coimbra, a black suit and cape worn on special occasions by the students (and more often by many), which was adopted by other Portuguese universities and is actually used by students of almost all higher education institutions in the city and across the country."

 

Influence on Harry Potter:

 

"Consider the cloak: that heavy, full-length piece of outerwear most often associated with epic fantasy franchises, and specifically, Harry Potter. It’s not something you’d wear to class, not if you value practicality—and yet somehow it remains the most iconic part of the wizarding school uniform.

 

But in the non-magical world, Portuguese university students have been wearing cloaks to class day in, day out, more or less since higher education was invented. They are the indisputable pioneers of the trend—so much so that many would swear, under Veritaserum if needed be, that J.K. Rowling was inspired by the Portuguese when picking out the outfits for her young wizards. Although Rowling has never been explicit about her inspiration for the cloaks, she wrote part of what would become Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone while living in Porto, Portugal, in the 1990s. Tour guides often point out the cloaked university students, whom Rowling must have seen walking to and from class, as the likely inspirations behind the Hogwarts dress code.

 

The look stems from the history of post-secondary education in Portugal, which has some of the oldest universities in the world. When the country's first university—the University of Coimbra—was created in 1290 in Lisbon, teaching was a religious vocation (as was learning), and so the medieval campus was teeming with clergymen. There wasn’t a student uniform, exactly, but the mish-mash of men from different religious orders did result in a student look: a dark, severe ensemble that civilian students began to approximate in the centuries that followed. As late as 1850, the all-male student body at the University of Coimbra was still wearing knee-length cassocks over shorts and knee socks. A long cloak topped off the whole outfit, lending a decidedly clerical look to the decidedly civilian students.

 

Things changed, dramatically, in the latter half of the 19th century. The progressive spirit of the era replaced the old-fashioned shorts with a practical three-piece suit, composed of black frock coat, waistcoat, and tailored pants—and so the standard male university uniform, or traje, was born. The cumbersome old cloak very nearly went out of commission then, but the boys had reportedly grown so attached to its drama that they kept wearing it over the new suits. School authorities allowed the cloak to remain, proudly anachronistic, to sweep the cobblestones of Coimbra another day. When the country’s second and third universities were founded in 1911, in the cities of Lisbon and Porto, students rushed to adopt the same weirdly popular suit-and-cloak combo.

 

Girls didn’t get a standard uniform until 1945, when the Orfeão Universitário do Porto, a student association at the then-young University of Porto, accepted the first female members into its roster. (Before then, women didn't have any particular school attire, although they were sometimes told to wear all black so as not to stand out.) Members of the Orfeão were expected to perform traditional Portuguese singing and dancing in full uniform, and the girls rose to the occasion by suiting up in their very own, alternate version of the traje. They found their inspiration in the stripped-down practicality of military women’s uniforms and settled on a knee-length trapeze skirt and boxy three-button jacket. The cloak, of course, was the final touch, which quickly caught on at other schools.

 

Today, there are over 300,000 university students in Portugal, a respectable number of whom routinely wear the traje to class. It is no longer mandatory, as it once was, but it doesn’t need to be. To wear this historic uniform is to embrace and broadcast one’s identity as a student—although it’s also to be frequently confused with a Harry Potter cosplayer. Foreign visitors to Portugal sometimes make that mistake, but they should know the opposite is likelier to be true: Local students have been wearing cloaks to class since long before Harry Potter was cool."

  

Another incredibly rare car, of which I've only ever seen three in the UK, all of which have been impossible to grab a shot of. So, much like the Maestro I bumped into last year, the first Avantime I get where I want it to be is in Tenerife!

 

Oh how I wished this car had succeeded, but sadly has gone down in the annuls of history as one of the biggest automotive failures of the 21st Century, largely due to what it is, a Coupé MPV.

 

The Renault Avantime was the company's attempt at marrying the sporty looks and charms of a luxury coupé with the size and practicality of an MPV (Multi-Purpose Vehicle), or as we Brits like to call them, 'People Carriers'. The Avantime was built onto the same platform as Renault's pioneering People Carrier the Espace, which is widely considered the first and greatest of the People Carriers, making its début in 1984. The biggest problem with People Carriers, and the Espace is no exception, is that they are unbelievably uncool, being for all intents and purposes vans with electric windows, and chocked full of as many seats as possible so as to cram in all the relatives you need for the day. Renault hoped to change this by making a luxury version known as the Avantime, a word in direct translation meaning 'Ahead Time' or 'Ahead of Time'.

 

Design of the Avantime began back in 1998, being conceived by Renault's affiliate Matra and the head of its automotive division Philippe Guédon. Styling was carried out by world famous motoring designer Patrick Le Quément, and upon the car's release in 1999 at the Geneva Auto Show, people couldn't help but be astounded by its ways. Unlike other People Carriers, there were only five seats for extra legroom and space, and no central pillar dividing the cabin, with just one long window and door on the car's profile. This was an early point of contention as there were concerns for safety without the all-important pillar for structural rigidity. This was overcome with a much stronger structure supporting the roof. The doors themselves were another point of interest as they were double-hinged, which meant that rather than the door opening for miles, it could slide forward in its mounting so it would only open to the width of a regular car door, but could still provide access to the rear without putting the front seats down. The biggest party piece of them all though was the Avantime's ability to open all windows and the giant Sunroof simultaneously, giving the feel of driving a drop-top coupé. Power was also pretty good, coming in the form of Renault's 24 valve, 207hp 3.0L V6 engine.

 

Upon its launch in 2001, the car was still lauded critically for its brilliant design and attempts to marry sports and speed with the size of a People Carrier, but didn't actually sell. The problem is the car fell in between two categories. The idea of a coupé car is that it's meant to look sporty and sheek, and the idea of a People Carrier is to cram in as many people as is humanly possible. The Avantime failed to meet both these criteria, looking not especially sporty, and not having the capacity of a regular MPV. The result was that the Avantime absolutely tanked in terms of sales, not helped by the launch of the Renault Vel Satis, a similarly sized 5-door family car which was built more to the proportions of an Estate car that was more upmarket than the Espace, Modus or Scenic People Carriers.

 

The result was that the Matra division folded after suffering massive losses on building the Avantime, and thus their factory was closed. Renault chose instead not to move production elsewhere and decided it would rather just kill off this bad egg rather than suffer any more pain. In 2003, the Avantime's time ran out, with only 8,557 units built. Here in the UK it was only sold in the petrol version and was on the market for a grand total of 18 months before being removed from sales with 435 examples leaving the showroom.

 

Opinion on the Avantime since its discontinuation have been mixed. While many put it down as one of the worst failures in automotive history, and even so far as to dub it the worst car ever made, most critics and the few owners who actually bought one declare it to be an automotive marvel, thinking outside the box and technically innovate in more ways than one. The most notable critics to acclaim the Avantime are Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond of the late, great Top Gear, who noted it as one of only three cars they all unanimously like, the other two being the Ford Mondeo and Subaru Legacy. In fact the Avantime re-entered a few minutes of fame when one appeared on the show in 2008, where they were given two days and a budget of £9,800 to get their plucky Renault to lap the Top Gear test track as fast as a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X. Eventually, after tuning the engine, removing the seats, fitting track-ready tyres, adding a spoiler just to remove it, and adding a chin-spoiler just so it could catch fire, they eventually did the lap and it was as expected, hopeless rubbish, but the Avantime was the overall winner in that since then it's really kicked off a cult following.

 

Today they are incredibly rare cars here on the roads of Britain. In France you'll probably find a fair few as that's where the majority were sold, but other than that they're touch birds to follow.

Raggedy Annxiety is a deconstructed pullover dress that balances sweetness with a darker, jittery edge. If I had to guess I would say this could have only been made at the same time I was finishing my tax forms — in this case there is indeed no such thing as a coincidence. Improvisationally hand made by me in my studio. One of a kind.

 

It's built from an array of red and white checked cotton. It has a few different collars (see the back) and a lot of button holes that go nowhere and some big X's that may or may not mean something. There's also a collar on the side. And on the other side, just for a touch of practicality, there sits a pocket. It's sewn with a mix of exposed and traditional stitching

One of two 1919 headframes of the Cliffs Shaft Iron Mine, Euclid Street between Lakeshore Drive and Spruce Street, Ishpeming, Michigan. The Cliffs Shaft Mine is a former iron mine, now a museum, located on Euclid Street between Lakeshore Drive and Spruce Street in Ishpeming, Michigan. The museum, operated by "Marquette Range Iron Mining Heritage Theme Park Inc.", celebrates the history of the Marquette Iron Range. The site was designated a state of Michigan historic site in 1973 and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992

 

In 1919, Cliffs Shaft engineers determined that the two wooden headframes atop their A and B shafts were deteriorating and would soon be unsafe. When Cliffs Shaft engineers presented company president William G. Mather with proposals to update the headframes, Mather suggested that, because of the prominence of their location, the headframes combine practicality with architectural beauty. The company retained George Washington Maher, a Prairie School architect from Chicago's Condron Company, to design the new headframes. Maher came up with a distinctive obelisk-shaped, Egyptian Revival design for the headframes. The company immediately began building the new headframes around the old wooden ones. The new headframes were of reinforced concrete, with an interior measurement of 33 feet square at the base, eventually tapering to 21 feet square at the top. A pyramidal roof brought the full height to 96 feet 9 inches. The structures are substantially similar, but mirror images of each other. The positions of interior beams were largely determined by available openings in the wooden headframes being built around. Work continued from July into December 1919.

Coachwork by Bertone

430 ex.

 

Maserati's final major introduction while under Citroën's control, the Khamsin (named after a hot Sahara Desert wind) debuted at the 1972 Turin Show and entered production in 1974. Styled by Marcello Gandini and built at Bertone, the Khamsin's attractive, unitary construction, 2+2 hatchback body was of all-steel construction. The Khamsin featured state-of-the-art, all-independent, double-wishbone suspension similar to that of the mid-engined Bora and Merak which, combined with a 50/50 front/rear weight distribution, endowed it with near perfect balance. The Khamsin's front-engined layout made it easier to control close to the limit, while the speed-sensitive power steering enabled it to be driven as effortlessly in town as when crossing the Continent.

 

Citroën's hydraulic technology powered the brakes and steering - the latter, in particular, being rated as highly effective by testers - and also to raise the concealed headlamps. Designed by legendary engineering genius Giulio Alfieri, the power unit was a 4,9-litre version of Maserati's familiar quad-cam V8 developing 320 bhp and a lusty 354 lb/ft of torque. A five-speed ZF manual gearbox or three-speed Borg-Warner automatic transmission were options, and when equipped with the former the Khamsin was good for around 240 km/h. The Khamsin was Maserati's biggest-engined and most expensive offering at the time of its introduction, and thus could justifiably claim to be its top-of-the-range model. By virtue of its front-engined layout, the Khamsin offered greater practicality than the mid-engined Bora, providing a roomier and more comfortable interior, and superior luggage carrying capacity. In 1977 the Khamsin benefited from a minor facelift that included the addition of three small vents at the bonnet front to improve cooling. Only 430 Khamsins were produced, 140 of them with the three-speed Borg Warner automatic transmission.

 

Finished in Argento (silver) with red leather interior, this Khamsin left the Modena factory on 29th September 1978, bound for the USA. It has the desirable five-speed manual gearbox and is a matching numbers and matching colours example (see Maserati Classiche email on file). The Maserati has been back in Italy since 1999, and from 2007 to 2012 belonged to a well-known sports car dealer near Verona. Since 2012, the car has formed part of the current vendor's private collection. Importantly, this Khamsin has been returned to European specification with the rear light clusters fitted in the glass panel, a much more aesthetically pleasing solution than that of the awkward US-specification models, which had the light cluster below the glass panel.

 

Rome-based classic engine specialist, Paolo Centazzo, has recently completed a comprehensive rebuild of the engine. The work included fitting new pistons, new bearings throughout, new valve guides and valve seats, a new timing chain, and a new clutch. A photographic record of the engine rebuild available and comes with the car, together with confirmation from Paolo Centazzo. Since the work was finished in September 2016 the car has been driven only a minimal distance. Offered with Italian registration documents, it is a stunning example of this classic wedge-shaped Maserati in a most attractive colour combination, with the added benefit of a freshly rebuilt engine.

 

Les Grandes Marques du Monde au Grand Palais

Bonhams

Sold for € 178.250

Estimated : € 180.000 - 220.000

 

Parijs - Paris

Frankrijk - France

February 2017

After 17 years, Volkswagen replaced the original Type 2 van, with it's 1940s-style split-window front, with an updated version. The "Bay window" bus had many new elements (most notably, it did away with swing axles in the rear suspension), but at heart it was basically just a heavy revision. It would prove to be spectacularly long lived. Introduced in Europe and the U.S. for 1967, it finally went out of production in Brazil in 2013.

 

At the heart of that longevity was the basic practicality of the bus - configurable as a pickup, a cargo van, a camper, or a passenger van, the rugged air-cooled engines and simple components mean that in places where corrosion is uncommon, the T2 can basically run forever, and run cheaply, too.

 

In the U.S., the "chicken tax" import tariff curtailed sales of the commercial van and pickup variants - indeed, these were the very vehicles that tax was aimed at, but the camper and van remained very popular throughout the 1970s.

 

The "chicken tax" was the result of a trade dispute that took place in the early 1960s. American Industrial farming radically lowered the price of Chicken in the 1950s - like Oranges, Chicken was once a luxury and not something an ordinary person ate every day - and subsequently consumption of Chicken grew dramatically at home and abroad. European Farmers were negatively impacted by the cheap imported Chicken, and some in Europe objected to the farming methods. So tariffs were enacted on Chicken imports to France and Germany.

 

The United States was keen to get rid of those Tariffs - but for more than two years, no agreement could be found for how to make that happen. Finally, in late 1963 President Johnson enacted retaliatory tariffs on potato starch, dextrin, brandy, and light trucks. On paper, these targeted items were intended to "compensate" for the revenue lost on Chicken exports, but in reality they were the product of several back-room deals, including one dealing with the UAW and trucks.

 

Johnson wanted to avoid strikes and to garner big Union support for upcoming Civil Rights legislation. UAW President Walter Reuther wanted to curb VW imports. The result was that VW's relatively small truck business was targeted.

 

As a result, a 25% import tariff was levied on these vehicles, and that tariff remains in effect today. The dispute over Chicken was largely solved in short order - and all the other tariffs evaporated with it - except this one, which enjoyed continued lobbying support from Detroit. In time, Detroit manufacturers would use various methods of "captive importation" to get around this tariff, and Japanese manufacturers would build plants in the United States to do the same. Even VW would produce a pickup here in the early eighties - the Golf 1 based Caddy.

 

That the T2 should be linked to political events in the 1960s is appropriate, because even though the "Bay window" bus was produced long after the sixties ended, and most of them are from the seventies here in the United States, the bus is also deeply associated with American sixties counterculture. In many ways it was the opposite of a traditional American car, and even after the big three Detroit automakers introduced Forward-control vans in the early sixties, VW's passenger van sales were scarcely dented.

 

Nor did those vans have the staying power of the bus - surviving sixties Ford Econolines, Dodge A-series, and Chevrolet Vans are quite rare now, but the Bus is still and everyday sight in some parts of the United States.

 

In 1979, the old bus was replaced by the related, but heavily modernized, Vanagon, at least in the U.S. In Mexico and Brazil, production of the Bay window continued far longer, finally ending when the old machine could no longer be made emissions compliant after 2013. By that time, emissions laws had forced VW do Brasil to convert the Kombi to a water-cooled engine, among other changes, but it looked just like the good old T2.

 

©2015 A. Kwanten.

Power Yoga Flow with Michelle Goldstein (1 Hour) youtu.be/XpGnuK_u4gQ www.heartalchemyyoga.com/power-yoga-flow-video-1-hour/ This power yoga workout is an excellent full body workout with an emphasis on twists, shoulder openers and backbends, working into locust pose (shalabasana), bow pose (danurasana) and wheel (urdvha danurasana). This thorough, well rounded practice also includes plenty of vinyasa and standing poses to keep your heart moving and body working. Led by renowned Los Angeles Yoga teacher, Michelle Goldstein of Heart Alchemy Yoga, this yoga workout is certain to inspire your practice. Michelle brings a simple practicality to her instruction that results in a safe and easy to understand yoga workout. This vinyasa flow is intended to open the chakras, while improving strength, coordinated breathing, flexibility, stamina, awareness and relaxation. About Michelle Goldstein: Michelle has maintained a daily yoga practice for 16 years. Micgelle has studied and practiced with many inspiring teachers including Max Strom, Saul David Raye, Bryan Kest of Santa Monica Power Yoga, Erich Schiffman, Annie Carpenter, Vinnie Marino, & Jerome Mercier. Michelle has been teaching yoga flow and meditation for over 10 years and leads workshops, immersions & retreats worldwide as well as teaching at Santa Monica Power Yoga & Equinox Fitness Clubs. Known for her creative vinyasas (sequences of yoga asana) and pranayama, Michelle Goldstein's teaching integrates influences from various forms of movement and meditation set to powerfully inspiring backdrops of music. Approaching instruction with a deep spiritual reverence for the sacredness of yoga coupled with a joyous playful sense of humor, Michelle's classes offer a safe, nurturing and challenging environment for students to come and explore their mental and physical boundaries. Check out all of our great Heart Alchemy Yoga flow videos below: Five Tibetan Rites with John Goltermanhttps://youtu.be/nnNJoRLJG9E Power Yoga for Weight Loss youtu.be/yUtK7v3dsr0 Strong Yoga For Beginners Workout youtu.be/xglmLhDppmo Meditative Bhakti Yoga Flow youtu.be/mQnAvEbDNPg Bhakti Yoga Workout youtu.be/AHMO0Ja0XC4 Cardio Yoga Workout youtu.be/hy-qss2Takg Yoga Workout 1 hour Yoga For Weight Loss youtu.be/yUtK7v3dsr0 Power Yoga Flow youtu.be/XpGnuK_u4gQ Bhakti Yoga Class youtu.be/K9scEzgir-8 Yoga for Beginners youtu.be/EaKZ3Xtxf5A Mindfulness Meditation youtu.be/2K-ZcAgka2g Gentle Yin Yoga Full Class youtu.be/Z3AlyD1CIJw Bhakti Yoga flow heart opening yoga workout with Kumi Yogini youtu.be/onS6uq94NHw Bhakti yoga class yoga flow with Kumi Yogini ॐ youtu.be/K9scEzgir-8 bhakti yoga class with Kumi Yogini youtu.be/ch4CEW-vEoc Advanced Yoga Workout - Inversions, Hand Stand, Core Work youtu.be/KbLVYpQ74Zo Bhakti Yoga Flow youtu.be/KvhIvZyemtI Inspired Yoga Workout with Breathwork youtu.be/_wG5hEBrMJQ Strong beginners Yoga Workout with JQ Williams youtu.be/vQdOhTKfEt8 Bhakti Yoga flow yoga workout youtu.be/VPmOF99bBHg Beginners Yoga Flow 2015 youtu.be/Dva-ThUN6Ww Bhakti Yoga Flow with Kumi Yogini 2015 youtu.be/onS6uq94NHw Yoga for Beginners Level 1 yoga workout youtu.be/f2sIjOHFZuU Yoga Flow youtu.be/YKVhB4TxuwU 40 Minute Yin Yoga Class youtu.be/O_Vg-j5lkuA Strong Power Yoga Flow youtu.be/UwJFpTRXI-g Yoga flow daily recharge total body workout youtu.be/LiTlpC0RU6Q Strong Power Yoga Flow youtu.be/Ua10v6kw27c 30 Minute Power Yoga Flow with Twists for detox youtu.be/Sy25cbDGqBM 30 Minute Daily Yoga Flow for weight loss youtu.be/Vc4u04a5A4o Yoga for Beginners youtu.be/3gWJBgAIXwg Sun Salutations (Surya A Surya B) youtu.be/GHGU18zg4rs Click below to subscribe to our channel: youtube.com/heartalchemyyoga Our Sites www.heartalchemyyoga.com plus.google.com/+HeartAlchemyYoga facebook.com/heartalchemyyoga instagram.com/travlinyogini twitter.com/travlinyogini www.pinterest.com/travlinyogini www.michellegoldsteinyoga.com

Everyone knows I’m all about sensibility, safety, and practicality. That is why when they posted this month’s LUGNuts challenge having to do with cars with place names, pretty much my only choice was the Chevy Monte Carlo SS. This is your average, every day mid-80’s family sedan with some very minor customizations you probably wouldn’t notice. They’re not even worth mentioning, really.

The Škoda Fabia Mk2 was a supermini that launched in March 2007, offering as a five-door hatchback and mini-estate, built on the Volkswagen Group's PQ24 platform. It featured a larger body, a more refined design, and improvements in engineering compared to its predecessor. The Mk2 Fabia was known for its practicality, low running costs, good fuel economy, and comfortable ride. It also shared platform with the MPV Roomster, which launched in June 2006.

 

Skoda Fabia received a facelift in the summer of 2010. The facelift brought a 1.2-litre turbo engine with DSG automatic transmission, as well as the standalone vRS model with a 1.4-litre TSI engine. The range also included Greenline II models with low emissions.

 

In spring 2013, Fabia received an update including revised badges and "Skoda" lettering on the bootlid. Skoda also launched the Fabia Reaction edition, offering a good value package including air-conditioning, alloy wheels, and Meteor Grey paintwork.

 

In June 2014, Skoda launched a value-packed Fabia SE and a Black special edition, further enhancing the car's appeal. In the end of the same year, the Fabia (2nd generation) production ended in 2014. More than 1.7 million units were made during its lifespan. The new Fabia (third generation) was announced in June 2014 and unveiled at the Paris Motor Show in October of that year, signaling the end of the Mk2 vRS model. On the other hand, Skoda discontinued the Roomster MPV in mid-2015.